The 5th Amendment only coveres what is called testimonial evidence. Evidence of a physical nature is not testitmonial. This includes things such as DNA, fingerprints and handwriting. It even includes a voice sample. The question is whether a passcode is testimonial. My belief is yes, it should be. But I can see a court reaching the contrary decision. It will be an interesting case to go up to the SCOTUS.
>> My belief is yes,
If ‘belief’ isn’t good enough for a conviction, how can it be good enough to classify private knowledge as tangible evidence to be used against the defendant? Private knowledge is not the tangible fingerprint nor DNA.
What if a third-party had access to the phone, placed content on it, and also changed the password without the defendant’s knowledge? Such things cannot be done to the defendant’s fingerprints and DNA.