US Supreme Court appears split over controversial use of 'geofence' search warrants

TLDR

• The Supreme Court heard arguments in Chatrie v. United States, a case that could determine whether geofence warrants are constitutional.

Key Facts

• Geofence warrants compel tech companies like Google to hand over location data for all users near a crime scene at a given time.
• The case stems from a 2019 Virginia bank robbery; police used a geofence warrant to identify suspect Okello Chatrie, who received an 11-year sentence.
• Civil liberties advocates argue the warrants are overbroad, returning data on innocent bystanders with no connection to the alleged crime.
• Legal observers following oral arguments expect the court to allow geofence warrants to continue, likely with narrowed scope, rather than banning them outright.

Why It Matters

• A ruling against broad geofence warrants would affect not just Google but any tech company storing user location data on its servers.
• Google stopped responding to geofence warrant requests last year after moving location data storage to users’ devices; other companies including Microsoft, Uber, and Snap have not.

Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch · 2026-04-28 · Read the original