Criminal Juror Challenges and CSLI: A Rule 16 Revision to Maintain Impartial Juries

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees criminal defendants “the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State.” Voir dire, the procedure during which the prosecution and the defense may challenge prospective jurors for cause or exercise peremptory challenges, purports to uphold this right. When the prosecution has access to cellular geolocation data on prospective jurors that the defense lacks, however, it may jeopardize the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights. This Note proposes a solution to that problem in the form of an addition to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. By amending Rule 16 to specifically compel government disclosure of prospective jurors’ cell site location information (CSLI) to the defense, the criminal defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury is significantly more likely to be protected. Moreover, this addition to Rule 16 would guide courts’ adaptation to technological advances, as well as restore the information equilibrium between criminal defendants and the government.