United States v. Flores-Lopez

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

This appeal requires us to consider the circumstances in which the search of a cell phone is permitted by the Fourth Amendment even if the search is not authorized by a warrant. Lurking behind this issue is the question whether and when a laptop or desktop computer, tablet, or other type of computer (whether called a “computer” or not) can be searched without a warrant— for a modern cell phone is a computer.

Law enforcement authorities had reason to believe that the defendant was a supplier of illegal drags to another drug dealer, Alberto Santana-Cabrera, who in turn had…