Public Defender Responds to Cell-Site Info Petition for Rehearing

Back in August, Jonathan Biran posted on this blog regarding the Fourth Circuit’s split decision in United States v. Graham on warrantless requests for cell-site location information. The Government proceeded to petition for en banc rehearing (petition available here) last month, and the Fourth Circuit ordered a response. The petition did exactly what it needed to do – it let Judge Motz’s dissent speak for itself.

Earlier today, Mike Scaracella of the National Law Journal posted a screen grab of the first page of the defendant’s response, along with a link to the full document, authored by Assistant Federal Public Defender Meghan Skelton. Whatever your position on the issue, the response is a strong piece of legal writing, and a reminder of what an exceptional Federal Public Defender’s office we have in Maryland.