{"id":3052,"date":"2026-06-29T16:08:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3052"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:08:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:08:36","slug":"supreme-court-says-police-need-warrants-for-geofence-searches-to-track-cellphones-near-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3052","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court says police need warrants for \u2018geofence\u2019 searches to track cellphones near crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police who ask telecommunications companies to search their records to spot people whose phones were active near a crime scene are performing a search, and must obtain a warrant.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court upholds $5 million judgment for E. Jean Carroll, rejects Trump appeal<\/a><\/p>\n

The justices said police may be able to justify the warrant \u2014 that will be for lower courts to decide on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

But they said the idea of asking firms to poke through massive amounts of their data to try to spot potential suspects does cross constitutional lines.<\/p>\n

Justice Elena Kagan, writing the majority opinion in the 6-3 decision, said the ruling is a recognition of just how central cellphones have become \u2014 and how willing users are to turn over personal information to the apps that populate their phones.<\/p>\n

The specific case before the justices involved Google\u2019s location history, and the firm\u2019s willingness to pore through that data when police asked for assistance in identifying suspects tied to a particular place and time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat database is new, but the principle covering it is not: That principle is instead the one our history has given. The Fourth Amendment must, as ever, protect against unjustified governmental intrusion on the privacy of the individual,\u201d wrote Justice Kagan, an Obama appointee.<\/p>\n

She was joined by the court\u2019s other two Democratic appointees and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., a George W. Bush pick, and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, a Trump selection. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch sided with them, but wrote his own opinion.<\/p>\n

The case before the justices stemmed from a 2019 armed bank robbery at the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian, Virginia. The robber brandished his gun, told the teller he had accomplices who were holding their family hostage, then ordered the manager to empty the safe, making off with $195,000.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court expands Trump\u2019s firing powers \u2014 but imposes some limits<\/a><\/p>\n

He eluded police for months \u2014 until they got what\u2019s known as a geofence warrant, which asked Google to prowl through its records and identify those who were near the scene within an hour of the robbery. That ended up including people at homes, a restaurant and even a nearby church.<\/p>\n

In the end, Google identified 19 accounts, narrowed that to nine and turned over subscriber information for three. One belonged to Okello Chatrie, who would go on to be convicted and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. He challenged the warrant, arguing it violated his Fourth Amendment rights against an unlawful search.<\/p>\n

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved the police tactics, ruling that no Fourth Amendment search had taken place.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s ruling rejects that idea, and sent the case back to the circuit court for a do-over. The lower court was told to apply Fourth Amendment principles to the case and see whether police did have a valid reason for the warrant.<\/p>\n

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. led the dissent Monday, criticizing his colleagues for taking the case but then refusing to tackle the big question of whether the search was valid.<\/p>\n

He called the case an \u201cirresponsible escapade\u201d that would upend Fourth Amendment law without providing any certainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s decision all but guarantees that we will be cleaning up debris for the foreseeable future,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court rules states can count late-arriving mailed ballots, rejecting Trump-led challenge<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police who ask telecommunications companies to search their records to spot people whose phones were active near a crime scene are performing a search, and must obtain a warrant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,6],"tags":[1946,1944,732,1945,157],"class_list":["post-3052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","tag-call-federal-credit-union","tag-elena-kagan","tag-google","tag-midlothian","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court says police need warrants for \u2018geofence\u2019 searches to track cellphones near crimes - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3052\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court says police need warrants for \u2018geofence\u2019 searches to track cellphones near crimes - 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