Fri. Jan. 29, 2021 |By Andrew Hamm – SCOTUSblog |
This week the SCOTUS Blog highlights cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether law enforcement can compel testimony in the form of a phone passcode. A law enforcement officer became the subject of an investigation for allegedly passing information about a narcotics investigation to a suspect. Investigators seized his phones, but they were unable to unlock the phones to access the data. Officials sought a discovery order to compel the officer to disclose his passcodes, which the officer argued would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a passcode, comprising a series of characters, was of “minimal testimonial value” for which the state could — and had here — overcome the constitutional protection by proving the phones belonged to the officer. Claiming state and federal courts are divided on this question, the petition in Andrews v. New Jersey asks the justices to weigh in.
Andrews v. New Jersey
20-937
Issue: Whether the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment protects an individual from being compelled to recall and truthfully disclose a memorized passcode, when communicating the passcode may lead to the discovery of incriminating evidence to be used against him in a criminal prosecution.
Read the full story here.
