Orin Kerr writes:
Regular readers will recall the mosaic theory of the Fourth Amendmentintroduced by the DC Circuit in United States v. Maynard, by which law enforcement steps that aren’t searches in isolation can become searches when aggregated over time. For the most part, judges have been pretty skeptical of the mosaic theory. For example, in the recent oral argument in the Fourth Circuit in United States v. Graham, on whether the Fourth Amendment protects historical cell-site data, the mosaic arguments didn’t gain a lot of traction for the defense.
In this post, however, I want to focus on two recent federal district court decisions that cut against this trend and adopted the mosaic theory.
Read more on WaPo Volokh Conspiracy.