Why Yesterday's Landmark Geofence Ruling Won't Stop Federal Data Buyers
Yesterday, the Supreme Court finally put a leash on the government's favorite digital tracking tool. But don't pop the champagne just yet, because federal agencies have already found a multi-million-dollar detour around the Constitution.
The Brief
The Supreme Court Reins in Geofence Warrants, But the Surveillance State Has Already Found a Detour
Source: eff.org
By the numbers
- The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Chatrie v. United States on June 29, 2026, establishing geofence warrants as Fourth Amendment searches.
- The original 2019 Virginia bank robbery warrant swept up location data across a 70,000-square-meter area.
- ICE surveillance vendor contracts surged to a record $513 million in 2026.
- ICE signed a $25.1 million contract on May 22, 2026, to purchase 1,570 iris-scanning devices from Bi2 Technologies.
- The FBI conducted 278,000 non-compliant searches under Section 702 in 2023, including a batch search of 19,000 political donors.
"Individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cell phone location records, even when those records are briefly accessed and held by a third-party company." — Justice Elena Kagan, Chatrie v. United States majority opinion
The FBI cannot legally track your phone without a warrant, but they can buy your entire location history from a private broker for the price of a software subscription.
What happens next: The battleground now shifts to Congress, where civil liberties groups are leveraging the expiration of FISA Section 702 to demand a strict warrant requirement for domestic data.
Watchlist
- The Fourth Circuit's Remand: Judges will decide if the specific geofence warrant in Chatrie v. United States was reasonable.
- The FISA Showdown: Congress must decide whether to revive the expired Section 702 spying authority with strict warrant rules.
- Biometric Border Tracking: ICE will deploy 1,570 new iris-scanning devices to identify people from 15 feet away.
Bright Spot
When the state uses emergency declarations to levy illegal taxes on American businesses, the absolute bare minimum requirement of justice is that every single dollar is returned.
More headlines
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The District of Columbia agreed to a $50,000 settlement with Sam O'Hara, a protester illegally detained by police for playing the "Imperial March" during a National Guard deployment.
Crow's Nest If playing a movie theme song is enough to get you thrown in handcuffs by capital police, our public spaces are governed by fragile egos rather than the rule of law.