{"id":2539651,"date":"2026-01-16T18:04:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T23:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-to-determine-legality-of-geofence-warrants\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T18:06:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T23:06:28","slug":"supreme-court-to-determine-legality-of-geofence-warrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-to-determine-legality-of-geofence-warrants\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court to determine legality of geofence warrants"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsupreme-court-to-determine-legality-of-geofence-warrants%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2539651&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Supreme Court will decide whether geofence warrants-orders to companies like Google for data on devices within a specified location and time-violate the Fourth Amendment. The justices granted review in Chatrie v.United States, a case arising from a bank robbery conviction after investigators used a geofence warrant; the court&#8217;s review is limited to whether the warrant&#8217;s execution constituted an unconstitutional search. Circuits are split: the Fifth Circuit generally found such warrants unconstitutional, while the Fourth Circuit concluded they are not searches. The Justice Department argues the warrants are lawful and notes Google has since changed its practices so the same data would not be available today; tech companies including X have urged review. The decision coudl broadly affect law enforcement&#8217;s use of this increasingly common investigatory tool; arguments may be heard in spring with a ruling possible by June.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Supreme Court to determine legality of geofence warrants<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2472124\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/section\/news\/supreme-court\/\">Supreme Court<\/a> announced Friday it will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of geofence <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/warrants\/\">warrants<\/a>, as their usage in criminal investigations continues to expand.<\/p>\n<p>The high court <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/orders\/courtorders\/011626zr_3f14.pdf\">granted<\/a> review in <em>Chatrie v. United States<\/em>, limiting the scope of the arguments to whether the execution of a geofence warrant violates the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fourth-amendment\/\">Fourth Amendment<\/a>, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. The case involves a man who was convicted of robbing a bank after a geofence warrant was conducted.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4418895\/supreme-court-still-trusted-right-ruling-poll-shows\/\">Supreme Court still trusted to make the right ruling despite contentious cases, poll shows<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4418402\/election-lawsuits-poised-ramp-up-after-supreme-court-ruling\/\">Election lawsuits poised to ramp up after Supreme Court ruling<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4418260\/supreme-court-opens-floodgates-candidates-challenging-election-laws\/\">Supreme Court opens floodgates to candidates challenging election laws<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>A geofence warrant is a request issued to a technology company, in this case <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/google\/\">Google<\/a>, for information about devices within a certain geographic location during a certain time period. The type of warrant has been used thousands of times by <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/police-and-law-enforcement\/\">law enforcement<\/a>, but in this case, Okello Chatrie&rsquo;s lawyers claim its execution violated his Fourth Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<p>Chatrie&rsquo;s lawyers stressed in their <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25-112\/368199\/20250728142157250_USSC%20Petition%20for%20Writ%20of%20Certiorari.pdf\">petition<\/a> to the high court that the &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >powerful law enforcement tool&#038;rdquo<\/a>; raises concerns over Fourth Amendment rights, noting that &ldquo;using a geofence warrant, law enforcement may request information regarding all people who were at a sensitive location&mdash;an abortion clinic, a protest, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tucker-carlson-gives-fiery-rnc-speech-without-teleprompter-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Tucker Carlson gives fiery RNC speech without teleprompter - Washington Examiner\">political party&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s convention&mdash;at a particular time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Geofence warrants have been used to investigate crimes ranging from smashed windows to the storming of the Capitol,&rdquo; the petition said.<\/p>\n<p>The petition noted the split between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-allows-trump-to-deploy-national-guard-to-portland\/\" title=\"Appeals court allows Trump to deploy National Guard to Portland\">federal appeals court circuits<\/a> on the matter, with the Fifth Circuit finding the warrants generally unconstitutional, while the Fourth Circuit, where Chatrie&rsquo;s case was appealed from, held the warrant was not considered a search under the law.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department argued in its <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25-112\/385692\/20251124174425288_Chatrie_Opp_11.24.pdf\">brief<\/a> to the Supreme Court that it should reach the same conclusion as the Fourth Circuit that the warrant was not a &ldquo;search&rdquo; under the law and is therefore lawful. Solicitor General D. John Sauer also noted to the high court that Google changed its policy regarding geofence warrants and that the government would not be able to obtain the information it got about Chatrie today.<\/p>\n<p>Chatrie&rsquo;s petition received support from social media platform X, which filed a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25-112\/373265\/20250829160043957_Chatrie%20-%20AC%20Brief_final.pdf\">brief<\/a> to the high court&rsquo;s docket calling for the case to be reviewed.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court previously ruled that law enforcement must show probable cause to obtain cellphone tower data as part of an investigation, in its 2018&nbsp;<em>Carpenter v. United States<\/em> ruling.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4418895\/supreme-court-still-trusted-right-ruling-poll-shows\/\">SUPREME COURT STILL TRUSTED TO MAKE THE RIGHT RULING DESPITE CONTENTIOUS CASES, POLL SHOWS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court&rsquo;s ruling in <em>Chatrie<\/em> is expected to have wide ramifications for criminal investigations nationwide on the emerging law enforcement tool.<\/p>\n<p>The high court could hear arguments in the case as soon as March or April, with a decision expected by the end of June if the justices hear the case this term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court to rule on geofence warrants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2539652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26013721832946_f1038e.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[45262,70405,71197,71198,32275],"class_list":["post-2539651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-digital-privacy","tag-fourth-amendment","tag-geofence-warrants","tag-location-tracking","tag-supreme-court"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26013721832946_f1038e.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2539651"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2539656,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539651\/revisions\/2539656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2539652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2539651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2539651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2539651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}