Ketanji Brown Jackson says the geofence search violated the Fourth Amendment
Ketanji Brown JacksonU.S. Supreme Court justice, in a concurrence joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Jackson argued that the search violated the Fourth Amendment.
“I write separately because I would have gone further to explain that this search violated the Fourth Amendment.”
Original text
Where this statement fits
Should police access to Google Location History count as a Fourth Amendment search?
In Chatrie v. United States, the government argued that voluntarily sharing Google Location History meant police acquisition of the limited data did not trigger Fourth Amendment protection. The ACLU and NetChoice opposed that position. On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court held that acquisition was a search. Samuel Alito dissented, distinguishing the short, optional location record from prolonged surveillance. The ruling left the warrant's reasonableness for further proceedings and did not ban every geofence warrant or decide suppression of the evidence.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
Jackson's concurrence, joined by Sonia Sotomayor, addresses the constitutional defects she finds in the second and third stages of the geofence search.
Before the quotation
Jackson agreed with the majority that access to Chatrie's Location History was a search. She wrote separately on the search's legality.
After the quotation
She argued that later stages let officers obtain sensitive information without sufficiently particular probable-cause findings by a magistrate.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the government's access to Location History, Jackson both rejects the no-search position and expressly criticizes this search as unconstitutional.
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The Dispute Index. "Ketanji Brown Jackson says the geofence search violated the Fourth Amendment". First published: 2026-10-16. Last updated: 2026-10-16. https://disputeindex.com/events/5843-jackson-argued-that-the-search-violated-the-fourth