Appeals Court Will Reconsider Ruling on Cellphone Tracking

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, will reconsider, with a full roster of judges participating, an earlier ruling in which a three-judge panel held that police need a warrant to obtain records from cellphone companies that show where a suspect has been.

In June, the appeals court ruled that the government violated the privacy rights of Quartavius Davis, who was convicted of robbing seven stores in 2010 and sentenced to roughly 162 years in prison. It was the first time a federal appeals court mandated a warrant for cellphone location records, which are increasingly subject to government requests. In deciding to rehear the case, the 11th Circuit vacated the June ruling.