Geofence Warrants Restricted

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that police use of geofence warrants to obtain cellphone location histories qualifies as a Fourth Amendment search, meaning law enforcement generally must secure a warrant backed by probable cause before sweeping up such data. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a cross-ideological majority in Chatrie v. United States, a case stemming from a Virginia bank robbery investigation in which Google location records helped identify the suspect. The decision extends constitutional privacy protections to sensitive cellphone location information held by third parties and limits a tool that critics say can expose the movements of many innocent people. The ruling is expected to reshape how police departments seek digital location data from companies such as Google while reinforcing that modern surveillance techniques remain subject to traditional privacy safeguards.