The U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a 5-4 decision the police practice of taking DNA samples from those who have been arrested but not convicted of a crime, NBC News reported. The five justices in the majority ruled that taking DNA swabs amounted to the 21st century version of fingerprinting and did not violate the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia joined liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan in dissenting. The high court is poised to rule later in June on other cases that could make sweeping changes to same-sex marriage, affirmative action and voting rights.
