Chatrie v. United States · ¶48

The Government, not much contesting any of the above, principally argues on a different ground: that accessing only a short amount of cell-phone location information (whether Location History or CSLI) does not count as a Fourth Amendment search. (The dissent likewise contends that the “duration” of data obtained here is too brief for a search to have happened. Post, at 14 (ALITO, J.); see post, at 15–16.) Recall that Carpenter involved seven days’ worth of location data. See supra, at 14–15. And in deciding that case, this Court reserved the issue whether there was a more “limited period for which the Government may obtain” such data “free from Fourth Amendment scrutiny.” 585 U. S., at 310, n. 3. The Government now claims that the answer is yes, and that the two hours’ worth of Location History acquired here falls within the Constitution-free zone. In the Government’s view, a person has…

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