FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, June 25, 2014
CONTACT: Ian Koski at 202-224-5042

Senator Coons applauds Supreme Court’s decision to protect Americans’ digital privacy

“Americans’ privacy rights don’t end when their information is on a screen instead of on a page”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, issued the following statement Wednesday on the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in favor of Americans’ digital privacy in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie.

“The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable, warrantless searches of their ‘papers and effects,’ and today the Supreme Court made explicitly clear that Americans’ mobile phones enjoy those same protections. I strongly agree with the Supreme Court’s decision that law enforcement officers should need a warrant in order to access an American’s mobile phone or other personal digital device. Americans’ privacy rights don’t end when their information is on a screen instead of on a page. While the boundaries of digital privacy will certainly continue to be tested in the years to come, the Supreme Court today has drawn a bright red line that will serve as valuable guidance for law enforcement at every level and protect the liberty of citizens in the digital age.”

Last month, Senator Coons and U.S. Senator Rand Paul wrote an op-ed for POLITICO on the cases, arguing that the Fourth Amendment’s protections against warrantless searches of “papers and effects” should extent to modern-day mobile phones. That op-ed is available here: http://politi.co/1otKjPD