Case5:15-xr-90304-HRL Document30 Filed07/29/15 Page11 of 46
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the Public Defender responded separately with filings on June 29, 2015. See Larsen Decl.; ECF
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No. 29-1, Declaration of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Schenk (“Schenk Decl.”).
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II.
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The Court reviews de novo a magistrate judge’s legal conclusions and reviews any
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underlying factual findings for clear error. See Quinn v. Robinson, 783 F.2d 776, 811-12 (9th Cir.
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1986); accord United States v. McDermott, 589 F. App’x 394, 395 (9th Cir. 2015). As Judge
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Lloyd’s conclusion that the government must secure a search warrant on a showing of probable
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cause in order to obtain historical CSLI is a legal determination, this Court reviews that
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determination de novo.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
LEGAL STANDARD
III.
DISCUSSION
A. Fourth Amendment Principles
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The Fourth Amendment guarantees “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons,
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houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const. amend. IV.
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Cell phones plainly qualify as “effects” under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. See Oliver
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v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 177 n.7 (1984) (“The Framers would have understood the term
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‘effects’ to be limited to personal, rather than real, property.”). Further, as the text makes clear,
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“the ultimate touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is ‘reasonableness.’” Riley v. California, 134
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S. Ct. 2473, 2482 (2014) (quoting Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 403 (2006)). “Where,” as
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here, “a search is undertaken by law enforcement officials to discover evidence of criminal
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wrongdoing, reasonableness generally requires the obtaining of a judicial warrant.” Id. (brackets
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omitted) (quoting Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646, 653 (1995)). The Fourth
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Amendment’s warrant requirement “ensures that the inferences to support a search are ‘drawn by a
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neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often
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competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime.’” Id. (quoting Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S.
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10, 14 (1948). “In the absence of a warrant,” the U.S. Supreme Court has held, “a search is
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reasonable only if it falls within a specific exception to the warrant requirement.” Id.
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Case No. 15-XR-90304-HRL-1(LHK)
ORDER AFFIRMING DENIAL OF APPLICATION FOR HISTORICAL CELL SITE LOCATION
INFORMATION
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