The Supreme Court wrestled on April 27 with the constitutionality of police using cell phone location data while investigating crimes.
During oral argument, the justices asked attorneys about how much privacy Americans could expect, as well as how authorities could obtain geofencing warrants, or warrants for cell phone data transmitted from a specified location.
The case, known as Chatrie v. United States, centered on a Virginia man’s allegation that police violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches.
Police had secured a warrant that allowed them to obtain multiple sets of data from Google, including one that revealed Okello Chatrie’s proximity to a 2019 bank robbery, and he was ultimately convicted of the crime….