Can the government use a geofence warrant to track every cell phone near a crime scene without violating the Fourth Amendment?
Welcome back to Rightly Decided, the mostly originalist takes of the litigators of the Texas Public Policy Foundation! In our season finale, Laura Beth Latimer, Chance Weldon, Nathan Seltzer, and Clayton Calvin break down the Supreme Court’s major digital privacy ruling in Chatrie v. United States.
The crew dives into a 2019 armed bank robbery where police used Google location history and an expansive “three-step” geofence warrant to identify their suspect. The team explores why the third-party doctrine threatens to swallow the Fourth Amendment in the digital age, breaks down Justice Gorsuch’s masterclass in property-based originalism, and engages in a fiery debate over whether the Supreme Court issued an unconstitutional “advisory opinion.”
Plus, Laura Beth shares an exciting personal announcement and an update on what’s next for the show!
Chapters:
0:00 – Season Finale & Bank Robbery Lore: Wrapping up the October 2025 SCOTUS term and breaking down a classic, movie-style $195,000 heist.
3:30 – How Geofence Warrants Work: Google location history, cloud data vs. on-device storage, and how police used a three-step warrant to unmask 19 devices.
6:50 – The Exclusionary Rule & Good Faith: Why immunity doctrines prevent citizens from suing officers directly, leaving judges to invent the exclusionary rule.
10:45 – The Third-Party Doctrine Trap: Looking back at Katz, Carpenter, and why clicking “I Agree” on an app shouldn’t let the government search your entire digital life.
17:15 – Three-Step Warrants: Justice Jackson and Justice Sotomayor explain why leaving particularization to an officer’s discretion fails Fourth Amendment scrutiny.
19:50 – Justice Gorsuch’s Originalist Masterclass: Why “reasonable expectations of privacy” is made-up vibes—and why digital location data constitutes your private “papers and effects.”
27:10 – The Advisory Opinion Fight: Chance and Nathan go head-to-head over Article III jurisdiction, redressability, and limited grants of cert.
37:50 – Scorecard & Show Updates: The final 6-3 ruling, Laura Beth’s big announcement, and what to expect during the off-season!