Search Warrants Can Require Defendants to Give Phone Passcode

Governing: New Jersey’s highest court ruled Monday that authorities can compel defendants to turn over their phone passcodes in order for them to retrieve information from the device through a search warrant.

The state Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling was a result of the case of Robert Andrews, a former Essex County Sheriff’s officer, who alleged it was unconstitutional to make him provide his cell phone passcode to authorities as they investigated him for aiding a man who was under investigation for drug trafficking. Authorities executed a search warrant on Andrews’ phones, but were not able to access information without the passcodes.

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