California, the Constitution, and Cell Phones

So the NY Times posted an article this evening about California's new cell phone ban that went into effect on July 1st. The basics: If you're under 18, you may not use a cell phone at all. If you're over 18, you can only use a cell phone via a handsfree device. There's some fines involved and you can't get away from the advertising on the freeways/radio/tv from cell phone vendors trying to sell handsfree devices. My favorite, by has the last line: "It's better to be safe than cited." Which, to me distorts the whole purpose of purchasing a handsfree device. It's not to avoid a fine, it's to be safe, right? Well, either way, the cell phone companies are raking it in, I'm sure.

Personally, I don't own an earpiece thingy, but my iPhone came with headphones that have a little voice receiver near your mouth on the cord, so that's my handsfree device. Although, as irony would have it, I nearly got into a wreck trying to untangle said handsfree device so that I could use my phone in the future.

But the real intriguing argument being made about this whole scenario involves a little Criminal Procedure. That's right. Tune out now. The NYTimes article actually references this blog post which does a little crimpro analysis of the new law and it's possible ramifications. All hail the Fourth Amendment. The author, a Berkeley Law student, argues that the new law will be a whole new justification for pre-textual searches. It's an interesting argument and I think the author is correct; I just wonder if it will actually be abused. I guess time will tell. I think the moral of the whole article (in case you don't care to get all law school in July) is that you shouldn't hide your phone if you get pulled over. Put it in plain view and that way the cops can't search your entire passenger compartment looking for the phone, and whoops, find a little contraband along the way, getting you more than a fine. So, a lesson for all Californians. If everyone would follow this advice, the whole pre-textual search issue would go away.

If your love of the law isn't quite satiated, I encourage you to read the comments posted below the Berkeley law student's article. I think I can actually imagine some of the people who responded and there's a 85% chance many of them are 3Ls cracked out on crimpro bar prep.