Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Okello T. Chatrie v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 22-4489 · judgment April 30, 2025
Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a petition filed soon after the judgment below, and a Fourth Circuit decision below.
Questions presented
This case concerns the constitutionality of geofence warrants. For cell phone users to use certain services, their cell phones must continuously transmit their exact locations to their service providers. A geofence warrant allows law enforcement to obtain, from the service provider, the identities of users who were in the vicinity of a particular location at a particular time. In this case, law enforcement obtained, and served on Google, a geofence warrant seeking anonymized location data for every device within 150 meters of the location of a bank robbery within one hour of the robbery. After Google returned an initial list, law enforcement sought - without seeking an additional warrant - information about the movements of certain devices for a longer, two-hour period, and Google complied with that request as well. Then - again without seeking an additional warrant-law enforcement requested de-anonymized subscriber information for three devices. One of those devices belonged to petitioner Okello Chatrie. Based on the evidence derived from the geofence warrant, petitioner was convicted of armed robbery. The questions presented are:
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Whether the execution of the geofence warrant violated the Fourth Amendment.
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Whether the exclusionary rule should apply to the evidence derived from the geofence warrant. LIMITED TO QUESTION 1 PRESENTED BY THE PETITION.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Adam G. Unikowsky
Jenner & Block LLP
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage · 29 merits
(26 supporting pet./neither, 3 respondent)
Argument & decision
Argued April 27, 2026 — Adam G. Unikowsky · Eric J. Feigin. Audio and transcript
Decided June 29, 2026. Opinion by Kagan.
Proceedings
- Jul 31 2026Judgment Issued.
- Jun 29 2026Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Kagan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Sotomayor, Kavanaugh, and Jackson, JJ., joined. Jackson, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Sotomayor, J., joined. Gorsuch, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Alito, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas, J., joined as to Part I, and in which Barrett, J., joined as to Parts II–B, II–C–1, and II–C–2. Barrett, J., filed a dissenting opinion.
- Apr 27 2026Argued. For petitioner: Adam G. Unikowsky, Washington, D. C. For respondent: Eric J. Feigin, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
- Apr 17 2026Reply of Okello Chatrie not accepted for filing. (April 17, 2026 - to be resubmitted).
- Apr 17 2026Reply of petitioner Okello Chatrie filed (April 17, 2026). (Distributed)
- Apr 01 2026Brief amici curiae of Iowa, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 01 2026Brief amicus curiae of Professor Orin S. Kerr filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 01 2026Brief amici curiae of Local Government Legal Center, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Mar 30 2026CIRCULATED
- Mar 25 2026Brief of respondent United States filed. (Distributed)
- Mar 16 2026Sealed material electronically received from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and available with the Clerk.
- Mar 09 2026Motion for leave to file Volume III of the joint appendix under seal GRANTED.
- Mar 09 2026Brief amicus curiae of James W. Harper in support of neither party filed.
- Mar 09 2026Brief amicus curiae of American Center for Law and Justice in support of neither party filed.
- Mar 09 2026Brief amicus curiae of The Rutherford Institute in support of neither party filed.
- Mar 09 2026Brief amicus curiae of Microsoft Corporation in support of neither party filed.
- Mar 09 2026Brief amici curiae of Technologists in support of neither party filed.
- Mar 09 2026Brief amicus curiae of The Policing Project at New York University School of Law in support of neither party filed.
- Mar 09 2026Brief amici curiae of Software & Information Industry Association and Computer & Communications Industry Association in support of neither party filed.
- Mar 03 2026Sealed material received from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and available with the Clerk. The remainder of the record is electronic and is available on PACER.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Liberty Justice Center filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Institute for Justice filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amici curiae of Eight Law Professors filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Americans for Prosperity Foundation filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of New Civil Liberties Alliance filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of NetChoice filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Project for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability, Inc. filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Constitutional Accountability Center filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amici curiae of The Innocence Project and the Center on Race, et al. filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of X Corp. filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Brian L. Owsley filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amici curiae of America's Future, et al. filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amici curiae of Law & Technology, et al. filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Restore the Fourth, Inc. filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amicus curiae of Google LLC filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amici curiae of American Civil Liberties Union, et al. filed.
- Mar 02 2026Brief amici curiae of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of The Press, et al. filed.
- Feb 27 2026Brief amici curiae of Center for Democracy & Technology, et al. filed.
- Feb 25 2026Record requested from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
- Feb 23 2026Brief of petitioner Okello Chatrie filed.
- Feb 23 2026Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
- Feb 23 2026Motion for leave to file Volume III of the joint appendix under seal filed by petitioner Okello Chatrie.
- Feb 11 2026SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, April 27, 2026.
- Jan 16 2026Petition GRANTED limited to Question 1 presented by the petition.
- Jan 12 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/16/2026.
- Dec 10 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
- Dec 08 2025Reply of petitioner Okello Chatrie filed. (Distributed)
- Nov 24 2025Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
- Oct 24 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 24, 2025.
- Oct 23 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 29, 2025 to November 24, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Sep 23 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 29, 2025.
- Sep 22 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 29, 2025 to October 29, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 29 2025Brief amicus curiae of Project for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability, Inc. filed.
- Aug 29 2025Brief amicus curiae of X Corp. filed.
- Aug 21 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 29, 2025.
- Aug 20 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 29, 2025 to September 29, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 28 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 29, 2025)