Timothy Ivory Carpenter was accused of participating in a series of brazen armed robberies of Radio Shacks in the Detroit area starting in 2010. According to the testimony of several witnesses, Mr. Carpenter planned the robberies, procured guns for his partners in crime, and served as a lookout, typically waiting in a stolen car across the street. To build their case against him, federal prosecutors also relied on four months of detailed records that they obtained from cellphone companies without a search warrant. The cellphone location records showed that Mr. Carpenter’s phone had been nearby the Radio Shacks when several of the robberies occurred. Mr. Carpenter was then convicted of the robberies and sentenced to 116 years in prison.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. What if Mr. Carpenter were a spy for Russia or a terrorist plotting to bomb a national monument? Should the government be required to obtain a search warrant in cases involving foreign affairs or national security?

2. If an individual voluntarily enables the “location tracking” feature of his cellphone, does he really have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his cellphone data?