WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court today held that police conduct a Fourth Amendment search when they obtain digital location history through a geofence warrant, recognizing that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their location information. The Court remanded the case for the Fourth Circuit to determine whether the warrant in this case authorized a search that was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing that dragnet geofence searches require rigorous Fourth Amendment scrutiny because they threaten core First Amendment freedoms—potentially exposing journalists’ confidential sources as well as people’s political, religious, and expressive activities.

The following can be attributed to Nicola Morrow, legal fellow at the Knight First Amendment Institute:

“Even a small amount of location data can reveal intimate details about our lives and our First Amendment-protected activities. Today’s decision is a powerful reminder that in the age of big data and panopticonic technologies, our 250-year-old Fourth Amendment remains an important bulwark against government surveillance.”

Read today’s decision in Chatrie v. United States here.

Read more about the case here.

Lawyers on the case include Nicola Morrow, Jake Karr, and Alex Abdo for the Knight First Amendment Institute; and Bruce D. Brown, Lisa Zycherman, Gabriel Rottman, Mara Gassmann, and Grayson Clary for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

For more information, contact: Gabriel Tyler, [email protected]