High court rejects appeal on cell phone search

The Supreme Court has passed up a chance to decide whether police need a search warrant before they look at text messages and other information on the cell phones of people they have arrested.

The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from Gregory Diaz, a California man suspected of taking part in a drug deal. Police found incriminating evidence in a text message when they searched Diaz's cell phone after his arrest.

The California Supreme Court upheld the search of the cell phone because police generally are allowed to examine items they find on a person they have arrested. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled a similar cell phone search was improper, but the high court rejected an appeal of that ruling last year.

The case is Diaz v. California, 10-1231.

More on this story later today.