Lecturer Chip Pitts spoke with The San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko about the Supreme Courts ruling in Los Angeles v. Patel and why it probably “won’t disturb major government data hauls.” 

In a ruling that could make it harder for the government to seize private consumer information, the U.S. Supreme Court barred police on Monday from inspecting hotel and motel guest records for signs of criminal activity without judicial approval or the hotel owner’s consent.

The 5-4 decision declared unconstitutional a Los Angeles ordinance that requires hotels and motels to keep their records open for police inspection at any hour, without a warrant. About 100 cities and counties across the nation, including San Francisco, Richmond, Emeryville and Alameda County, have similar laws, according to court filings. The San Francisco ordinance hasn’t been enforced for more than a year, since a federal appeals court struck down the Los Angeles ordinance.

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On the other hand, said Chip Pitts, a Stanford law lecturer, the ruling probably won’t disturb major government data hauls like the collection of daily phone call records. A newly passed federal law requires phone companies rather than the NSA to store those records and release them only when a judge finds evidence of a possible terrorist connection, a procedure that Pitts said was consistent with Monday’s decision.

“I was hoping there would be more recognition of the privacy of (hotel) guests” to challenge the searches, said Pitts, who signed arguments filed by a privacy-rights group.

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