Supreme Court considers lawfulness of broad police requests for cell phone location data

Supreme CourtSupreme Court considers lawfulness of broad police requests for cell phone location dataThe justices are considering whether law enforcement violated a convicted armed robber's constitutional rights by identifying him via a broad search of cell phone users at the scene.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00In a similar case, the court ruled in 2017 that warrants are required to obtain location information derived from cell phone tower data.NBC News; Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 27, 2026, 5:00 AM EDTBy Lawrence HurleyWASHINGTON —At 4:50 p.m. on May 20, 2019, an armed man holding a cell phone walked into the Midlothian, Virginia, branch of the Call Federal Credit Union and handed a note to a teller demanding cash.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.At one point brandishing the gun, the man ordered the manager to open the safe. He walked out with $195,000.Police officers were initially stumped when trying to figure out the identity of the robber, setting off a chain of events that led to a Supreme Court hearing on Monday, the latest in a series of cases on how new technology interacts with the Constitution's protection of individual rights.The detective in charge was able to identify Okello Chatrie as the prime suspect by obtaining data from Google about cell phone users in the vicinity of the bank at the time of the crime.A federal judge had approved what is known as a "geofence warrant" that allows police officers to seek such information even when they do not have a specific suspect in mind.Google initially identified 19 users, but the officer ultimately narrowed his search down to Chatrie, whose phone had its Google "Location History" setting switched on. This feature is used for apps such as Google Maps. The data showed he was in or near the location in question ten minutes before the robbery and then departed soon after.After further investigation, Chat...