One of the most-read novellas of all time, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, clocks in at, depending on what edition you pick up, around 120 pages. Not to be outdone, the 15-judge en banc Fourth Circuit provides 126 pages of eight non-precedential concurrences, plus one dissent, in addressing whether geofence warrants are unconstitutional. Oh, there is one precedential sentence in the per curium opinion affirming the district court's ruling allowing the government to use mobile-device data it obtained from Google Inc. to prosecute a bank robbery. Sadly, no one referenced any horror.
At issue in the overlapping and conflicting opinions was how broadly the court should rule, whether the government’s actions constituted a “search” under the Fourth Amendment, and whether the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turned over to third parties.
The case is United States v. Chatrie, No. 22-04489 (4th Cir. Apr. 30, 2025).