By Max Mitchell (The Legal Intelligencer) – Based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, the state Superior Court has held that pictures obtained through a warrantless search of a smartphone violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Superior Court in Commonwealth v. Stem ruled to affirm a lower court’s suppression of photographs containing alleged child pornography that were obtained from defendant Adam Edward Stem’s phone during a warrantless search following his arrest for an unrelated incident. The Superior Court’s unanimous July 11 opinion relied heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 25 ruling in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie.
The Philly Declaration 
