Supreme Court Weighs Constitutionality of Geofence Warrants
Summary
In Chatrie v. United States, justices questioned whether authorities can obtain Google location data through geofence warrants. A ruling expected by summer could clarify limits on government searches of cloud-stored location data.
Key points
- The case challenges a geofence warrant used in the 2019 bank-robbery conviction of Okello Chatrie.
- The warrant sought Google location data for people within a specific area at a specific time.
- Justices questioned whether cloud-stored location data is protected by the Fourth Amendment or subject to the third-party doctrine.
- Arguments also addressed whether warrants can be limited by time and place and how bulk data searches should be constrained.
- A ruling was expected in June or July; predictions based on justices' questions are uncertain.
- A law professor who filed a brief for the government predicted the Court may allow geofence warrants drafted with time and space limits.
Article Details
- Event Type
- U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in Chatrie v. United States, a challenge to the constitutionality of geofence warrants.
- Impact
- The case concerns whether law enforcement may obtain location data from Google to identify people near a crime scene and whether such searches are protected by the Fourth Amendment. A ruling could affect the permissible scope of geofence warrants and access to cloud-stored data; the article reports that a decision was expected in June or July, with the outcome uncertain.
People
Adam UnikowskyAttorney for the petitioner, he argued that people have property interests in and reasonable expectations of privacy for cloud-stored data.Alan ButlerExecutive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief for the petitioner; he commented on the case’s privacy stakes.Casey WaughnPrivacy lawyer quoted discussing the arguments about property interests and privacy expectations in cloud data.John RobertsChief Justice who questioned the petitioner’s attorney about government access to data held by third parties.Okello ChatrieHis 2019 bank-robbery conviction involved authorities obtaining Google location data through a geofence warrant; he is the petitioner in the case.Orin KerrStanford University law professor who filed a friend-of-the-court brief for the government and publicly assessed the oral arguments.Samuel AlitoJustice who questioned the significance of the case and the potential for the Court to add to lower-court rulings.Sonia SotomayorJustice who questioned whether geofence warrants’ limits on time and place prevent them from invading privacy.