E.D.La. avoids PC on CSLI warrant, deciding only GFE applies

Without determining the merits of probable cause for cell site location information, the court applies the good faith exception alone. United States v. Hardrick, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147940 (E.D. La. October 15, 2012):

Because this Court holds that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies, see discussion infra, this Court need not reach the issue of whether the obtaining of CSLI is a Fourth Amendment search. See United States v. Allen, 625 F.3d 830, 835 (5th Cir. 2010) (“First, we ask whether the seizure falls within the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule … [i]f the good-faith exception applies, this court affirms the district court’s decision denying the motion to suppress.”); United States v. Craig, 861 F.2d 818, 820 (5th Cir. 1988)(“Principles of judicial restraint and precedent dictate that, in most cases, we should not reach the probable cause issue if a decision on the admissibility of the evidence under the good-faith exception of Leon will resolve the matter.”); United States v. Cherna, 184 F.3d 403, 407 (5th Cir. 1999) (“If the good-faith exception applies, we need not reach the question of probable cause.”); see also United States v. Webb, 255 F.3d 890, 904-05 (D.C. Cir. 2001) (holding that the good-faith exception applied no matter “what may be said of the search warrant affidavit in this case”); Ferguson, 508 F. Supp. 2d at 10 (declining to address a Fourth Amendment challenge after holding that the good-faith exception applied); United States v. Koch, 625 F.3d 470, 476-77 (8th Cir. 2010) (“We need not address [whether there was a Fourth Amendment violation] because we conclude that the agents had an objective good faith belief … that their search was legal.”).

Despite this practice, courts should address the Fourth Amendment issue when “the resolution of a novel question of law … is necessary to guide future action by law enforcement officers and magistrates.” Craig, 861 F.2d at 820-21 (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 264 (1983) (White, J., concurring in the judgment). Resolution of the Fourth Amendment issue in this case is not necessary to guide law enforcement because the issue is under consideration by the Fifth Circuit. See In re Application of the U.S. for Historical Cell Site Data, 747 F. Supp. 2d 827, 844-46 (S.D. Tex. 2010), appeal docketed, No. 11-20884 (5th Cir. Dec. 14, 2011) (oral argument held on Oct. 2, 2012).

This Court holds that the good-faith exception applies and is dispositive of this motion to suppress. By declining to reach the Fourth Amendment issue this Court is applying the “sound judicial practice of refusing to decide or address issues whose resolution is not necessary to dispose of a case, unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise.” Craig, 861 F.2d at 820-21.