“Open Your Mouth So We Can Take A Cheek Swab Of Your DNA” Are Now The First Words After An Arrest When They Used To Be “You Have A Right To Remain Silent.”

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, called taking a cheek swab from arrestees a legitimate police booking procedure. The opinion further states “an individual’s identity is more than just his name or Social Security number, and the government’s interest in identification goes beyond ensuring that the proper name is typed on the indictment.” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a dissent, and also stated from the bench: “This will solve some extra crimes, to be sure. But so would taking your DNA whenever you fly on an airplane — surely the TSA must know the ‘identity’ of the flying public. For that matter, so would taking your children’s DNA when they start public school.” Maryland v. King  (U.S. Sup. Ct.; June 3, 2013) 133 S.Ct. 1958, [186 L.Ed.2d 1].