California Supreme Court Upholds the State's Problematic Arrestee DNA Collection Law
By Jennifer Lynch,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
| 04. 02. 2018
In a disappointing and deeply divided opinion released today, the California Supreme Court upheld a state law law mandating DNA collection from arrestees. A lower court had held this law violated the privacy and search and seizure protections guaranteed under the California constitution. Today’s decision lets this flawed law stand.
The case, People v. Buza, involved a San Francisco man who challenged his conviction for refusing to provide a DNA sample after he was arrested. California law allows police to collect DNA from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony—without a warrant or any finding by a judge that there was sufficient cause for the arrest. The state stores arrestees’ DNA samples indefinitely, and allows DNA profiles to be searched continuously by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
EFF weighed in on the case in 2015, filing an amicus brief arguing the state’s constitution prohibits the collection of DNA from arrestees because of the severe impact DNA collection has on our right to privacy. Our DNA contains our entire genetic makeup—private and personal information that maps who we are, where we...
Related Articles
By Emily Baumgaertner Nunn, The New York Times | 06.30.2026
A research program at the National Institutes of Health released the world’s largest database of human genomes and paired them with clinical data, officials announced Tuesday, paving the way for a new era of study in personalized medicine.
The All...
The title of this book is clever, not least because it is borrowed from a very secret society of a dozen Stanford students. Theo Baker, a gregarious computer science freshman, was interviewed by the hyper-rich anonymous entrepreneur who quietly assembled the members. The unspoken suggestion was that he might consider hiring some of the members in service of acquiring his next billion. (Either Baker was not offered a place or he is not admitting it.) Such are the ways of...
By Mustapha Bature Sallama, Modern Ghana | 06.11.2026
In much of West Africa, a woman who cannot bear children does not merely face a medical condition. She faces a verdict. Her marriage may unravel. Her community may turn cold. Her identity, in a social order that ties womanhood...
By Anna Rogers, Mother Jones | 06.19.2026
