State Legislation and Civil Liberties

A bipartisan group of Minnesota legislators has introduced companion House and Senate bills that would largely ban reverse-location, or “geofence,” warrants that let police demand data on all cellphones and devices near a crime scene at a given time. Led in the Senate by Democrat Erin Maye Quade with co-sponsors Omar Fateh (D) and Eric Lucero (R), and in the House by Democrat Sandra Feist, the measures were heard in late February and early March committees and would allow people whose data was swept up to sue law enforcement, with exceptions only for emergency situations. Supporters, including civil-liberties advocates, argue such dragnet searches violate the Fourth Amendment because a single warrant can expose location histories for thousands of innocent people, including protesters or bystanders, and note that Minnesota’s use of these warrants jumped from 22 in 2018 to 173 in 2020. Police groups such as the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension warn an outright ban would strip them of a lawful, court-supervised tool they say is sometimes critical for solving serious crimes, though they signal willingness to negotiate stricter safeguards. The debate comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments next month on the constitutionality of reverse-location warrants nationwide and after Google shifted most location history to on-device storage, a change privacy groups say may still not fully protect users from overbroad digital searches.