Cite as: 585 U. S. ____ (2018)
3
Opinion of the Court
robberies.
Based on that information, the prosecutors applied for
court orders under the Stored Communications Act to
obtain cell phone records for petitioner Timothy Carpenter
and several other suspects. That statute, as amended in
1994, permits the Government to compel the disclosure of
certain telecommunications records when it “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). Federal Magistrate Judges issued two
orders directing Carpenter’s wireless carriers—MetroPCS
and Sprint—to disclose “cell/site sector [information] for
[Carpenter’s] telephone[ ] at call origination and at call
termination for incoming and outgoing calls” during the
four-month period when the string of robberies occurred.
App. to Pet. for Cert. 60a, 72a. The first order sought 152
days of cell-site records from MetroPCS, which produced
records spanning 127 days. The second order requested
seven days of CSLI from Sprint, which produced two days
of records covering the period when Carpenter’s phone was
“roaming” in northeastern Ohio. Altogether the Government obtained 12,898 location points cataloging Carpenter’s movements—an average of 101 data points per day.
Carpenter was charged with six counts of robbery and
an additional six counts of carrying a firearm during a
federal crime of violence. See 18 U. S. C. §§924(c), 1951(a).
Prior to trial, Carpenter moved to suppress the cell-site
data provided by the wireless carriers. He argued that the
Government’s seizure of the records violated the Fourth
Amendment because they had been obtained without a
warrant supported by probable cause. The District Court
denied the motion. App. to Pet. for Cert. 38a–39a.
At trial, seven of Carpenter’s confederates pegged him
as the leader of the operation. In addition, FBI agent
Christopher Hess offered expert testimony about the cell-