Andy Wright writes:
Last week, a divided three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled in United States v. Graham that the government must obtain a warrant to obtain from a phone user’s historical cell-site location information (CSLI) from a cell phone provider if the requested information covers “an extended period of time.” The opinion by Judge Davis, joined by Judge Thacker, is an important milestone in the ongoing debate on government surveillance authority in the technology age as well as development of more traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine. Judge Motz dissented. As Orin Kerr notes, it also established multidimensional circuit splits that are ripening for Supreme Court review. Below are my thoughts about several lines of tension and contention raised by the Fourth Circuit opinion.
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