Midlothian, Virginia

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that police need warrants to obtain cellphone location data from third-party tech companies, citing Fourth Amendment protections. The decision, involving a 2019 Virginia credit union robbery case, left unresolved when such searches are considered reasonable under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court ruled that police cannot freely access cellphone location history, stating constitutional privacy protections apply to such data. The decision involved Okello Chatrie, a bank robber whose identity was uncovered via a geofence warrant, with Justice Elena Kagan emphasizing that users retain privacy expectations even when sharing location data with Google. Justice Samuel Alito dissented, arguing Chatrie had no privacy claim for information voluntarily given to Google.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police need warrants to obtain cellphone location data under the Fourth Amendment, as demonstrated in a Virginia case involving a credit union robbery. The 6-3 decision acknowledged privacy rights but left unresolved when such searches are considered reasonable.