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RESEARCH
Cell-site location information (CSLI) is generated each time a phone connects to a cell site, and this information is collected and stored by wireless carriers for their own business purposes. The FBI identified the cell phone numbers of several robbery suspects and obtained court orders to obtain the suspects’ cell phone records under the Stored Communications Act. Wireless carriers produced CSLI for petitioner Timothy Carpenter’s phone, and the Government was able to obtain 12,898 location points cataloging Carpenter’s movements over 127 days. Carpenter moved to suppress the data, arguing that the Government’s seizure of the records without obtaining a warrant supported by probable cause violated the Fourth Amendment.
Whether the acquisition of Carpenter’s CSLI without a warrant supported by probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment.
Whether the acquisition of Carpenter’s CSLI without a warrant supported by probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment.
The Court held that the acquisition of Carpenter’s CSLI without a warrant supported by probable cause violated the Fourth Amendment, as individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the whole of their physical movements, and allowing government access to cell-site records presents privacy concerns that contravene that expectation. The third-party doctrine does not govern this case, as the exhaustive chronicle of location information casually collected by wireless carriers distinguishes CSLI from the limited types of personal information addressed in Smith and Miller.
138 S.Ct. 2206 (2018)
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