Federal Court Rules on One of the Major Outstanding Constitutional Privacy Questions of Our Time

In a tremendous step forward for our right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held in United States v. Quartavious Davis that police need a warrant to obtain historical cell phone location information from a cell service provider. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in the case, along with the ACLU of Florida, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy & Technology, and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In April, I argued the cell phone tracking issue before a three-judge panel of the court.

This ruling is the first time a federal appeals court has held that the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant when police seek cell phone location records from carriers. As the court concluded: “In short, we hold that cell site location information is within the subscriber’s reasonable expectation of privacy. The obtaining of that data without a warrant is a Fourth Amendment violation.”


... The court’s unequivocal opinion should also provide guidance to lawmakers grappling with electronic privacy issues. Across the country, states have been considering legislation to require a probable cause warrant before law enforcement tracks location in criminal investigations. The biggest sticking point this legislative session has been whether those bills should cover historical and real-time location information, or just real-time tracking. There are a number of sound public policy reasons why legislatures should adopt comprehensive bills, and the Eleventh Circuit’s decision provides a persuasive explanation of why the Fourth Amendment requires that outcome. Legislators now have the opportunity to lead by enacting privacy protections for their constituents—even before abuses reach their courthouses.


read full article at ACLU https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-national-security/federal-court-rules-one-major-outstanding