Ramon Carlos Hernandez v. Texas

The Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement protects the contents of cell phones from search by law enforcement. Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373, 403 (2014). In the absence of Supreme Court guidance, it is unclear how the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement applies in the context of cell phone searches. Federal circuits and state courts of last resort have reached diametrically opposed conclusions about what limitations the particularity requirement imposes. The question presented is: Does the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement place any limitations on the search of a cell phone beyond requiring that a search warrant limits law enforcement 1) to searching for evidence of a particular offense and/or 2) to searching within certain broad categories of device data, such as any messages, any internet history, and any call logs?