Supreme Court Case Could Redefine What Police Can Learn From Your Phone's Location History
A case involving so-called "geofence" warrants — where police request location data for every phone near a crime scene — may be heading to the Supreme Court, and how the justices rule could fundamentally alter how much of your daily movements law enforcement can access without naming you as a suspect first.
Bottom Line
The Chatrie case represents a fundamental question about privacy in the smartphone era: can police demand records of everyone who was near a crime, or does the Fourth Amendment require them to have specific suspicion before accessing your movements? Lawyer Adam Unikowsky believes the practice is problematic and that the Supreme Court's eventual decision could dramatically reshape Americans' privacy rights. The stakes are straightforward — this ruling will determine whether your daily movements are private by default or available to investigators who ask the right tech company.