Supreme Court sends ‘geofence warrant’ case back to lower court

SCOTUS says detailed cellphone location data is protected by the Fourth Amendment

The Supreme Court ruled that police conduct a Fourth Amendment search when they obtain a person’s detailed cellphone location history from a tech company.

Supreme Court restricts use of geofence warrants

The Supreme Court on Thursday restricted the use of a relatively new law enforcement technique that allows police to tap into giant tech-firm databases to see who was near the scene of a crime.Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Elena Kagan said that the technique, known as geofencing, sent the case back to a lower court to determine whether the search was “reasonable” under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.“The Fourth Amendment must, …

The Era of Easy Phone Tracking Is Over: What the Supreme Court’s New Ruling Means for Your Privacy

A 6-3 ruling over Google Location History raises the stakes for companies that collect, store, or profit from data about where people go.

Elena Kagan Just Bolstered the Fourth Amendment in a Badly Needed Way

Kagan insists that the Fourth Amendment cannot be defeated by slicing invasions of privacy into pieces small enough to appear insignificant.

US Supreme Court case says police need warrants for cellphone location data

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that law enforcement searches for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes are covered by the Fourth Amendment, requiring warrants to obtain the data. But the high court left unsettled when searches for the information are reasonable — likely meaning the justices will eventually weigh in again on the privacy rights of…

SCOTUS: Feds need a warrant to scoop up your location data

Privacy advocates herald new limits on "geofence" searches that track all phones at a crime scene.