You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

SCOTUS Rules Cellphone Location Data Is Protected by the Fourth Amendment

HeadlineJun 30, 2026

In another landmark decision on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement agencies must first obtain a warrant before sweeping up smartphone location data from third-party tech companies like Google. In her majority opinion, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that a lower court should reexamine whether the technique known as geofencing constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. She wrote, “An individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in records about his cell phone’s location, and police intrude on that constitutionally protected interest when they demand the information.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top