United States v. Flores-Lopez: Protecting Privacy Rights in Cell Phone Searches Incident to Arrest

The Founders carefully drafted the Fourth Amendment to provide protection for “persons, houses, papers, and effects,” 1 purposefully shielding Americans from certain government intrusions. This protection of our papers and documents, or “freedom of conscience,” 2 was of the utmost importance to the Founders, as government intrusions were a pressing issue in the late 1700s. Pre-Constitution Americans’ fear of an overly intrusive government was exemplified in a pamphlet widely circulated throughout the colonies: 3