Wednesday, August 14, 2024

5th Circuit Rules Geofence Warrants Illegal

A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that geofence warrants, which are used to identify all users or devices in a geographic area, are prohibited by the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches.

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... "This court 'cannot forgive the requirements of the Fourth Amendment in the name of law enforcement.' Accordingly, we hold that geofence warrants are general warrants categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment," the August 9 ruling from the 5th Circuit said.

The case, United States v. Smith, involves three Mississippi men convicted of a 2018 armed robbery of a mail truck. Despite ruling geofence warrants to be unconstitutional, the 5th Circuit denied the convicts' motion to suppress evidence because "law enforcement acted in good faith in relying on this type of warrant."

"We hold that geofence warrants are modern-day general warrants and are unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. However, considering law enforcement's reasonable conduct in this case in light of the novelty of this type of warrant, we uphold the district court's determination that suppression was unwarranted under the good-faith exception," the court said.


4th Amendment scholar stunned ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-08-13 05:58 PM

Good Faith exclusion in the 4th Amendment:

"Good faith provides an exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule barring the use at trial of evidence obtained pursuant to an unlawful search and seizure. If officers had reasonable, good faith belief that they were acting according to legal authority, such as by relying on a search warrant that is later found to have been legally defective, the illegally seized evidence is admissible under this exception."

Arizona v. Evans

#2 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-14 01:17 PM

The exclusion is BS, but I wholeheartedly agree that geofence warrants violate the 4th amendment.

#3 | Posted by qcp at 2024-08-14 01:37 PM

QCP

"The exclusion is BS"

Probably a little too subjective but if it protects the good guys just doing their job, and puts the bad guys in jail, I'm happy to let somebody wiser than either of us make that decision on a case by case level.

#4 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-14 02:37 PM

@#3 ... The exclusion is BS, ...

The exclusion looks almost like circular reasoning to me.

That is, the Court said that the Fourth Amendment prohibits geofencing, but geofencing is OK if it is used for Fourth Amendment purposes.


#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-08-14 02:38 PM

LAMP

For Good Faith Fourth Amendment purposes.

#6 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-14 03:26 PM

@#6

Is there a similar exemption for searching my house?


#7 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-08-14 03:37 PM

LAMP

I don't know. We're getting into the weeds here.

#8 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-14 07:29 PM

but if it protects the good guys just doing their job, and puts the bad guys in jail, I'm happy to let somebody wiser than either of us make that decision on a case by case level.

#4 | Posted by Twinpac

Still haven't learned, have you?

#9 | Posted by jpw at 2024-08-15 09:18 AM

JPW

I've learned that it's foolish to argue with the Constitution. It says what it says until somebody changes it. And nothing that is said here is going to change it by arguing with each other.

I already said I think it's subjective. That's as far as I'm going to go.

So, carry on.

#10 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-15 09:42 AM

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