Rebecca Jeschke writes:
Can the government force people who are arrested – but not yet convicted of a crime – to give a DNA sample without a search warrant, or does that violate the Fourth Amendment? One arrestee is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider this important question, and this week EFF urged the court to take the case.
A federal law mandates DNA collection for those who have been arrested for felonies. The FBI analyzes the samples, and puts a profile into CODIS, a national database. Those who aren’t eventually convicted of a crime can get their information removed if they request to do so, but data from other individuals remains indefinitely. In this case from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. v. Mitchell, the defendant argues that the DNA collection violates his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Read more on EFF.