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Timothy Ivory Carpenter v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 14-1572 · judgment April 13, 2016

Decided · June 22, 2018
At-filing estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

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 "offers specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe" that the records sought "are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation." 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). 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. The Question Presented is: 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.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Harold Gurewitz
Gurewitz and Raben, PLC

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Subject area
Criminal Procedure (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 9 conferences

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage · 20 merits
(16 supporting pet./neither, 4 respondent)

Order
Order list, October 2, 2017

Argument & decision

Argued November 29, 2017 — Nathan F. Wessler · Michael R. Dreeben. Listen and read along · the Court’s audio

Decided June 22, 2018. Opinion by Roberts, C.J..

Proceedings

  1. Jul 24 2018
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jun 22 2018
    Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Roberts, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Kennedy, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas and Alito, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a dissenting opinion. Alito, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas, J., joined. Gorsuch, J., filed a dissenting opinion.
  3. Nov 29 2017
    Argued. For petitioner: Nathan F. Wessler, New York, N. Y. For respondent: Michael R. Dreeben, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
  4. Oct 24 2017
    Reply of petitioner Timothy I. Carpenter filed. (Distributed)
  5. Oct 23 2017
    Record received from the U.S.C.A. 6th Circuit is electronic.
  6. Oct 18 2017
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 6th Circuit.
  7. Oct 12 2017
    CIRCULATED
  8. Oct 06 2017
    SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Wednesday, November 29, 2017
  9. Oct 02 2017
    Motion for leave to proceed further herein in forma pauperis granted by the Court
  10. Oct 02 2017
    Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioner GRANTED and Harold Gurewitz, Esquire, of Detroit, Michigan, is appointed to serve as counsel for the petitioner in this case.
  11. Oct 02 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Alabama, et al. filed.
  12. Oct 02 2017
    Brief amicus curiae of Professor Orin S. Kerr filed.
  13. Oct 02 2017
    Brief amicus curiae of National District Attorneys Association filed.
  14. Sep 29 2017
    Brief amicus curiae of Michael Varco filed.
  15. Sep 25 2017
    Brief of respondent United States filed.
  16. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amicus curiae of Center for Democracy and Technology filed.
  17. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Empirical Fourth Amendment Scholars filed.
  18. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Electronic Privacy Information Center, et al. filed.
  19. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amicus curiae of The Rutherford Institute filed.
  20. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of The Center for Competitive Politics, et al. filed.
  21. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Scholars of the History and Original Meaning of the Fourth Amendment filed.
  22. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, et al. filed.
  23. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Technology Companies in support of neither party filed.
  24. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Scholars of Criminal Procedure and Privacy filed.
  25. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Electronic Frontier Foundation, et al. filed.
  26. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Institute for Justice, et al. filed.
  27. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amicus curiae of Restore the Fourth, Inc. filed.
  28. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of United States Justice Foundation, et al. filed.
  29. Aug 14 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Technology Experts filed.
  30. Aug 11 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Data & Society Research Institute and Fifteen scholars of Technology and Society filed.
  31. Aug 11 2017
    Brief amici curiae of Competitive Enterprise Institute, et al. filed.
  32. Aug 07 2017
    Joint appendix filed.
  33. Aug 07 2017
    Brief of petitioner Timothy I. Carpenter filed.
  34. Aug 02 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/25/2017.
  35. Jul 26 2017
    Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs in support of either or neither party received from counsel for the respondent.
  36. Jul 12 2017
    Motion for leave to proceed further herein in forma pauperis filed by petitioner Timothy I. Carpenter.
  37. Jul 12 2017
    Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioner Timothy I. Carpenter.
  38. Jul 11 2017
    Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs in support of either party or neither party received from counsel for the petitioner.
  39. Jun 22 2017
    The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including August 7, 2017.
  40. Jun 22 2017
    The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including September 25, 2017.
  41. Jun 05 2017
    Petition GRANTED.
  42. May 30 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of June 1, 2017.
  43. May 22 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of May 25, 2017.
  44. May 15 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of May 18, 2017.
  45. May 08 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of May 11, 2017.
  46. Apr 24 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 28, 2017.
  47. Apr 17 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 21, 2017.
  48. Mar 22 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 13, 2017.
  49. Feb 23 2017
    Rescheduled.
  50. Feb 15 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of March 3, 2017.
  51. Feb 10 2017
    Reply of petitioner Timothy Ivory Carpenter filed.
  52. Jan 27 2017
    Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
  53. Dec 15 2016
    Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including January 27, 2016.
  54. Nov 21 2016
    Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including December 28, 2016.
  55. Oct 28 2016
    Brief amici curiae of Electronic Frontier Foundation, et al. filed.
  56. Oct 28 2016
    Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
  57. Oct 21 2016
    Order extending time to file response to petition to and including November 28, 2016.
  58. Sep 26 2016
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 28, 2016)