Supreme Court orders lower court to reconsider 'geofence' warrant case

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to reconsider a legal challenge to “geofence” warrants after overturning an earlier ruling by a 6-3 decision. The case concerns Okello Chatrie, who filed an appeal claiming police used an illegal search to obtain cellphone location data near a Virginia credit union robbery. Chatrie conditionally pleaded guilty in 2022 while continuing his appeal, and the high court agreed a search occurred but sent the matter back for further Fourth Amendment analysis. Geofence warrants compel third-party companies, including Google, to search location data of devices near a crime scene during a defined time window. In Chatrie’s case, Google location history placed him at the scene along with 18 other opted-in users within a 150-meter radius during a one-hour period in 2019. The method contributed to a sentence of nearly 12 years after authorities found evidence including a pistol and notes.