State v. Bryant & Hunter

Amicus brief arguing against overbroad search warrants as they pertain to cell phone location information.

On March 21, 2025, the ACLU and the ACLU of New Jersey submitted an amicus brief in State v. Bryant & Hunter arguing that cell phone “tower dumps” amount to a general warrant and violates the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution. While investigating a home break-in, law enforcement served warrants on four cellular service providers to obtain the historical cell site location information for any phones that connected to cell towers in the vicinity of the crime in South Plainfield. These tower dumps, which were plainly never needed, disclosed cell phone numbers and call histories of over 10,000 people connected to those cell towers to the police. The brief argues that tower dumps warrant of this kind are overbroad, lack probable cause, and must be treated as unconstitutional general warrants.