Supreme Court Hears Geofence Warrants Case

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether geofence warrants, which allow police to scour cellphone location data from tech companies to identify potential suspects near a crime scene, violate the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches. The case stems from a 2019 bank robbery in suburban Richmond, Virginia, where authorities used such a warrant to track down the perpetrator, Okello Chatrie.

In May 2019, Chatrie robbed the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian, fleeing with $195,000. An initial investigation stalled until police obtained a geofence warrant from Google, creating a virtual perimeter around the bank and requesting location history for devices present at the time of the crime. The data pinpointed Chatrie's cellphone among a small number of devices in the area. Investigators then secured a search warrant for his home, where they recovered nearly $100,000 in cash, including bills banded and signed by a bank teller. Chatrie pleaded guilty to the robbery and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in federal prison.

Unlike traditional warrants that target a known suspect's property or device, geofence warrants reverse the process: they start...