Reason: Geofence Warrants Are the Future (and That’s a Good Thing)

Reason: “Geofence Warrants Are the Future (and That’s a Good Thing)” from Prof. Jane Bambauer posted by Eugene Volokh:

Last week, Judge Lauck of the Eastern District of Virginia handed down the first thorough Fourth Amendment analysis of the police investigation process known as “geofencing.” Judge Lauck found that the geofence warrant at issue in the case was unconstitutional. Moreover, the infirmities she found would be very difficult to cure in most police investigations where geofenced data might be helpful.

Civil liberties organizations have praised the opinion, but like Orin Kerr, I found the opinion confusing and poorly reasoned in its handling of key Fourth Amendment precedent. So I’ll take this opportunity to add a few additional doctrinal critiques to Orin’s excellent summary. But I’ll end with a less wonky, more big picture plea: I hope the courts do not expand the Fourth Amendment to impede technological tools like geofences that help police conduct more accurate, less discretion-based initial investigations. With appropriate constraints, geofences and other “suspectless search” technologies can be an integral part of police modernization and reform.