SAN FRANCISCO -- A California law that allows law enforcement to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony appears to be on shaky legal ground.

During an hour of arguments Wednesday, an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was largely skeptical of the state's argument that government's public safety interest in collecting DNA from arrestees outweighs constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

The majority of the judges expressed particular concern that the DNA is taken from people regardless of whether they are later charged or convicted of a crime. The arguments were the latest round in an American Civil Liberties Union challenge to the nine-year-old DNA collection law.

9th Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith grilled a deputy attorney general, insisting there is no reason California's law should permit DNA collection at the point of arrest.

"I don't see what the government loses by putting it off until conviction, or until a judge looks at it ... or at least the prosecutor looks at it, rather than just the police look at it," said Smith, a Republican appointee of former President George W. Bush.

9th Circuit Judge Raymond Fisher also expressed reservations about the government seizing a person's genetic map at the point of arrest. The ACLU case was filed on behalf of several people who were arrested and never charged with a crime, yet were forced to provide DNA samples.

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The California legal battle over DNA collection is one of many unfolding around the country, with the U.S. Supreme Court poised to take up the issue as soon as this fall in a similar Maryland case.

California is one of more than 20 states with such laws, although the state's voter-approved law is broader than some, including Maryland's, because it allows police to collect the DNA at the time of arrest.

California law enforcement officials argue that the law's usefulness in solving murders, rapes and other crimes through DNA hits outweighs the privacy rights of those who give the DNA samples. Powell told the court on Wednesday that the tool serves "vital public safety and law enforcement interests."

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DNA sampling of arrestees draws skepticism in federal court hearing