Schmidt v. City of Norfolk Brief: Automated License Plate Readers Commit Fourth Amendment Searches

The Cato Institute filed an amicus brief urging the Fourth Circuit to reverse the district court's Schmidt v. Norfolk ruling. Cato argues that even publicly-collected data offers an 'intimate window' into people's lives, and warns that if the reasoning stands, governments nationwide will be free to collect, store, and analyze large-scale location data without warrants, oversight, or individualized suspicion.