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LISTEN LIVE: Supreme Court considers whether geofence warrants for cellphones violate 4th Amendment

LISTEN LIVE: Supreme Court considers whether geofence warrants for cellphones violate 4th Amendment

Summary

The Supreme Court is hearing a case about whether police using geofence warrants to get cellphone location data violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches. In this case, police used a geofence warrant on Google to find a suspect’s cellphone near a bank robbery in Virginia.

Key Facts

  • The Supreme Court started hearing arguments about geofence warrants at 10 a.m. EDT.
  • A geofence warrant lets police request location data for all phones near a specific area and time.
  • Police used this tool to identify Okello Chatrie's cellphone near a bank robbery in Richmond, Virginia.
  • Chatrie stole $195,000 and avoided the police until the location data pointed to his phone.
  • The case raises questions about privacy and the Fourth Amendment, which guards against illegal searches.
  • The geofence warrant data came from Google, who stores location history from users’ devices.
  • This is an important case about how modern technology affects law enforcement and people’s legal protections.
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