Before today, the police were generally only authorized to do those things that were actually spelled out in the court's warrant. So if the warrant said, for example, "The police are hereby authorized and instructed to search the house," the police could only search . . . the house.
But, today, the Court of Appeal holds that that's no longer the case. Rather, as long as the warrant says (as they all do) that the "facts in support of this warrant are contained in the Statement of Probable Cause and any exhibits, which are attached hereto and incorporated by reference," and the probable cause statement asks for something additional -- something that's NOT actually ordered by the warrant -- that's fine too.
So, here, the police asked the court to allow them to use the suspect's finger to unlock the computer, but the warrant didn't actually say "Yes" or "No" to that. No bother. It was in the probable cause part, so it's allowed.
That's not how we traditionally view warrants. They're technically orders from a court, and you're only ordered to do what they actually order you to do.
No longer, I guess.
