Supreme Court Rules Geofence Warrants Require Search Warrants, Citing Privacy Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cell-phone location data, requiring authorities to obtain a search warrant for geofence warrants.

• The Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment applies to location data collected by companies such as Google from users’ cellphones.
• The ruling stops short of banning geofence warrants but requires police to show probable cause linking a target to a crime.
• The Court stated that an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his cell-phone location information.
• The decision sends the Chatrie v. United States case back to the Appeals Court to determine whether the original search warrant showed probable cause.