Carpenter v. United States (16-402) (2017 November 29)

QUESTION PRESENTED: In this case, as in thousands of cases each year, the government sought and obtained the historical cell phone location data of a private individual pursuant to a disclosure order under the Stored Communications Act (SCA) rather than by securing a warrant. Under the SCA, a disclosure order does not require a finding of probable cause. Instead, the SCA authorizes the issuance of a disclosure order whenever the government &quot;offers specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe&quot; that the records sought &quot;are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.&quot; 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). <br>As a result, the district court never made a probable cause finding before ordering Petitioner's service provider to disclose months' worth of Petitioner's cell phone location records. A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit held that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in these location records, relying in large part on four-decade-old decisions of this Court. <br>The Question Presented is: <br>Whether the warrantless seizure and search of historical cell phone records revealing the location and movements of a cell phone user over the course of 127 days is permitted by the Fourth Amendment. <br> <br>LINKS (sites unaffiliated): <br>• Docket. https://www.supremecourt.gov/d....ocket/docketfiles/ht <br>• Transcript. https://www.supremecourt.gov/o....ral_arguments/argume <br>• Oyez.org page. https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-402 <br>• 18 U.S.C. § 2703. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2703