It is time to sum up and read the tea leaves that are the transcript of the February 26th oral argument in Maryland v. King. Previous postings concerned these topics:
- Whether taking DNA profiles of arrestees is distinguishable from acquiring them from the general population;
- Whether deriving information from database trawls that could inform pretrial release decisions and conditions can constitute a special need for warrantless DNA acquisition now or in the future;
- Whether DNA profiles are distinguishable from fingerprints on the theory that collecting fingerprints is not even a search;
- Whether DNA samples are distinguishable from fingerprints because DNA samples contain more personal information;
- Whether Kyllo‘s analysis of thermal imaging of a home applies to DNA profiling;
- Whether the Court’s precedents show it is unwilling to trust the government;
- How Skinner, Greenwood, and Davis (4th Cir. 2012) affect the claim that a laboratory analysis limited to identifying features is a search in its own right.
At least some of the Justices appeared to be searching for a theory that would distinguish routine DNA collection and analysis before conviction (DNA-BC) for arrestees from the DNA-BC for everyone in the population. But why? � read more �