Thomas says the government obtained the carriers' records rather than searching Carpenter's property
Clarence ThomasAssociate justice of the United States Supreme Court
Thomas says the government obtained the carriers' records rather than searching Carpenter's property.
“By obtaining the cell-site records of MetroPCS and Sprint, the Government did not search Carpenter’s property. He did not create the records, he does not maintain them, he cannot control them, and he cannot destroy them. Neither the terms of his contracts nor any provision of law makes the records his. The records belong to MetroPCS and Sprint.”
Original text
Where this statement fits
Carpenter: Roberts and Kennedy split over police access to cellphone location records
In June 2018, the Supreme Court ruled five to four that obtaining Timothy Carpenter's historical cellphone location records was a search and generally required a warrant. Chief Justice John Roberts stressed the reach of location surveillance. Justice Anthony Kennedy dissented, arguing that the government obtained the carriers' business records rather than searching Carpenter's property.
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Original text
About this source
The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision of June 22, 2018, written by Chief Justice Roberts, holding that the government's acquisition of historical cell-site location records from wireless carriers was a Fourth Amendment search that generally requires a warrant. The Court said individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the whole of their physical movements, called its decision narrow, and said it did not call into question conventional surveillance techniques and tools such as security cameras. It does not address license-plate readers.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Thomas's dissent argues that the case should turn on whose property was searched.
After the quotation
He also criticizes the reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test and calls for reconsidering it.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to police obtaining Carpenter's location records without a warrant, Thomas argues that the records belong to the carriers and rejects Carpenter's claimed Fourth Amendment interest.
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More from this case
Read the full caseKerr rejects Carpenter's privacy holding but says a warrant rule largely follows if that holding is accepted
“I think Carpenter’s search holding is wrong. In my view, users don’t have Fourth Amendment rights in their historical cell-site records. But if you accept that erroneous holding as correct, and you then need to figure out what the reasonableness standard is for compelling access, I think something like the majority’s rule, in which the target is still ultimately protected by the same protections that would apply if the information were locally stored, is probably right.”Read statement
Wessler rejects the claim that using technology removes Fourth Amendment protection
“The government can no longer claim that the mere act of using technology eliminates the Fourth Amendment’s protections.”Read statement
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“We think the right rule is to require a warrant for any cell phone tracking”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Thomas says the government obtained the carriers' records rather than searching Carpenter's property". First published: 2026-10-24. Last updated: 2026-10-24. https://disputeindex.com/events/6628-thomas-says-the-government-obtained-the-carriers-records