The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2026 ruling in Chatrie v. United States marked an important step in protecting Fourth Amendment rights against modern surveillance techniques. The Court determined that broad “geofence warrants,” which compel companies to turn over location data from large numbers of phones in a defined area, constitute a search under the Constitution. While the decision does not ban these warrants outright, it requires law enforcement to meet constitutional standards when seeking this type of data.
