A judge in southern Mississippi is putting up a fight against the Department of Justice. I had no idea this was even going on…probably because it took place in the middle of nowhere.
The Department of Justice on Tuesday said it will appeal a precedent-setting court ruling finding it is unconstitutional for law enforcement to harvest vast amounts of data from cell phone towers when investigating specific crimes.
On February 21, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Harris said he would not authorize search warrants allowing investigators to pull large and indiscriminate amounts of data from nine cell phone towers as part of an FBI probe of a violent gang operating in the surrounding area.
Harris ruled that tower dumps constitute a search and therefore trigger Fourth Amendment protections barring unreasonable searches and seizures.
I hope this ruling stands against the DOJ’s appeal - we need more judges willing to put their foot down on these type of warrants.
If anyone is interested, here is the court order in question