Supreme Court considers lawfulness of broad police requests for cellphone location data

The Supreme Court hears arguments in the case of Okello Chatrie, the latest in a series of cases on how cell phone technology interacts with the Constitution.

WASHINGTON —At 4:50 p.m. May 20, 2019, an armed man holding a cellphone walked into the Midlothian, Virginia, branch of the Call Federal Credit Union and handed a note to a teller demanding cash.

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At one point brandishing the gun, the man ordered the manager to open the safe. He walked out with $195,000.

Police officers were initially stumped when trying to figure out the identity of the robber, setting off a chain of events that led to a Supreme Court hearing Monday, the latest in a series of cases on how new technology interacts with the Constitution's protection of individual rights.