Fourth Circuit calls real-time cellphone tracking a search

A Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday that police must obtain a warrant before using a cell-site simulator, a device that mimics a cellphone tower, to track someone's real-time location, becoming the first federal appeals court to squarely decide the question. The case arose from Kerron Andrews' 2014 arrest, after Baltimore police used a court order, not a warrant, to pinpoint him inside a specific townhouse.

Judge Nicole Berner, writing for the majority, compared the technology to sense-enhancing tools that let police ‘peer into a private home,’ writing that the simulator effectively ‘cracked open the front door.’ Despite that finding, the panel upheld summary judgment for the police department and detectives, ruling they are protected by qualified immunity.

Andrews spent nearly two years in pretrial detention on triple attempted-murder charges before prosecutors dropped the case after a Maryland court found police should have secured a warrant first. He later sued the department and detectives, whose victory the Fourth Circuit has now affirmed even while agreeing with him on the constitutional question.

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