Minnesota lawmakers are proposing a bipartisan ban on local reverse warrants

A bipartisan group of Minnesota lawmakers has proposed a bill that seeks to block warrants that allow law enforcement to gather information that reveals which cell phones and other devices were near a crime scene at a given time.

Democratic state Sen. Erin Maye Quade has introduced a Senate bill to ban those warrants in most cases, with Sens. Omar Fateh, also a Democrat, and Eric Lucero, a Republican, joined as original sponsors.

The bill would also allow anyone whose information was obtained during a search to sue law enforcement.

Lawmakers argue that warrants should be denied except in emergency situations. They said that the warrants of the revocable area, sometimes called a “geofence” or “dragnet”, are too broad and violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

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Critics of the warrants say authorities can collect information on thousands of people near a certain location, including those who attended an event of interest to law enforcement, such as a protest.

“We believe that we have to balance our constitutional rights and public safety so that we don’t send law enforcement to look for a needle in the haystack by increasing the size of the haystack,” said Maye Quade during the March 9 hearing.

Law enforcement groups, including the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, argue that the bill is too broad, though both have expressed a willingness to engage with lawmakers about data privacy concerns.

“We recognize and share the Legislature’s commitment to protecting individual privacy and civil liberties. However, as written, this bill would place a direct ban on investigative tools that are legal, court-directed, and, in many cases, essential to solving serious crimes and protecting public safety,” said the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association in a letter to lawmakers.

Senate lawmakers first discussed the bill in the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on March 9. House lawmakers discussed a companion bill, originally proposed by Rep. Sandra Feist, Democrat, on the House Judiciary and Public Finance Committee on Feb. 24.

This comes amid ongoing litigation at the national level, where the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in April on the constitutionality of local mandates.

Between 2018 and 2020, the number of reverse warrants in Minnesota jumped from 22 to 173.

The Senate bill would allow anyone whose information was obtained during a search to sue law enforcement. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

By 2023, Google said it will stop storing location data in a way that will make it easier to reverse location warranty claims. In July last year, the company said that all location history data previously stored on its servers had been deleted or moved to device storage.

But groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have expressed concerns about whether the change is enough.

Warrants appear to be still being used in Minnesota, as law enforcement agencies say they play an important role in solving investigations.

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said banning those warrants “will have a significant impact on public safety in Minnesota.”

“There are many examples of case investigations where reverse location data saved lives, even recently,” Evans said in a letter to lawmakers, though he added that he supports “reasonable safeguards to protect data privacy” and “would be more than willing to cooperate on possible solutions to implement additional protections while preserving such an important technological tool.”

As written, the Senate bill would prohibit warrants from collecting information on devices that search for a specific keyword, phrase or website. It will also prevent similar collection of GPS coordinates, cell tower and Wi-Fi connection data.

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Minneapolis police in tactical gear take to the streets of downtown Minneapolis as protesters gather on Jan. 17, 2026, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

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Lucero said during the hearing on March 9 that the bill should not be considered as an enforcement of the law, saying that it promotes principles that support the constitution.

“We just want to make sure that those time-tested principles are protected in the new digital environment,” Lucero said.

Lucero referred to the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures unless the warrant specifies a specific place and person or thing to be seized.

“Deferred search warrants are the crux of that,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.