03/02/2020 Riley v. California, 134 S. Ct. 2473 - Supreme Court 2014 - Google Scholar 134 S.Ct. 2473 (2014) David Leon RILEY, Petitioner, v. CALIFORNIA. United States, Petitioner, v. Brima Wurie. Nos. 13-132, 13-212. Supreme Court of United States. Argued April 29, 2014. Decided June 25, 2014. 2479 *2479 Jeffrey L. Fisher, Stanford, CA, for Petitioner Riley. Edward C. Dumont, San Diego, CA, for Respondent California. 2480 *2480 Michael R. Dreeben, for the United States as amicus curiae, by special leave of the Court, supporting the Respondent. Patrick Morgan Ford, Law Office of Patrick Morgan Ford, San Diego, CA, Donald B. Ayer, Jones Day, Washington, DC, Jeffrey L. Fisher, Counsel of Record, Stanford Law School, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford, CA, for Petitioner Riley. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General of California, Edward C. Dumont, Solicitor General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Steven T. Oetting, Craig J. Konnoth, Deputy Solicitors General, Christine M. Levingston Bergman, Counsel of Record, Deputy Attorney General, State of California Department of Justice, San Diego, CA, for Respondent California. Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for the United States. Judith H. Mizner, Counsel of Record, Federal Defender Office, for Respondent Wurie. Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Mythili Raman, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Michael R. Dreeben, Deputy Solicitor General, John F. Bash, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Robert A. Parker, Michael A. Rotker, Attorneys, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for the United States. Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. These two cases raise a common question: whether the police may, without a warrant, search digital information on a cell phone seized from an individual who has been arrested. I A In the first case, petitioner David Riley was stopped by a police officer for driving with expired registration tags. In the course of the stop, the officer also learned that Riley's license had been suspended. The officer impounded Riley's car, pursuant to department policy, and another officer conducted an inventory search of the car. Riley was arrested for possession of concealed and loaded firearms when that search turned up two handguns under the car's hood. See Cal.Penal Code Ann. §§ 12025(a)(1), 12031(a)(1) (West 2009). An officer searched Riley incident to the arrest and found items associated with the "Bloods" street gang. He also seized a cell phone from Riley's pants pocket. According to Riley's uncontradicted assertion, the phone was a "smart phone," a cell phone with a broad range of other functions based on advanced computing capability, large storage capacity, and https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9647156672357738355&q=riley+v.+california&hl=en&as_sdt=2006 1/13