Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-402_h315.pdf
Page Number: 97.0

26 

CARPENTER v. UNITED STATES 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

disregarded the clear text of the Fourth Amendment and a
formidable body of precedent. 

In  the  end,  the  Court  never  explains  how  its  decision 
can be squared with the fact that the Fourth Amendment 
protects only “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their 
persons, houses, papers, and effects.”  (Emphasis added.) 

* 

* 
Although the majority professes a desire not to “ ‘embar-
rass  the  future,’ ”  ante,  at  18,  we  can  guess  where  today’s
decision will lead. 

* 

One  possibility  is  that  the  broad  principles  that  the
Court  seems  to  embrace  will  be  applied  across  the  board.
All subpoenas duces tecum and all other orders compelling 
the production of documents will require a demonstration
of  probable  cause,  and  individuals  will  be  able  to  claim  a
protected  Fourth  Amendment  interest  in  any  sensitive
personal  information  about  them  that  is  collected  and 
owned  by  third  parties.  Those  would  be  revolutionary 
developments indeed. 

The  other  possibility  is  that  this  Court  will  face  the 
embarrassment  of  explaining  in  case  after  case  that  the
principles on which today’s decision rests are subject to all 
sorts  of  qualifications  and  limitations  that  have  not  yet 
been  discovered.    If  we  take  this  latter  course,  we  will 
inevitably  end  up  “mak[ing]  a  crazy  quilt  of  the  Fourth
Amendment.”  Smith, supra, at 745. 

All  of  this  is  unnecessary.    In  the  Stored  Communica-
tions Act, Congress addressed the specific problem at issue 
in  this  case.  The  Act  restricts  the  misuse  of  cell-site  rec-
ords  by  cell  service  providers,  something  that  the  Fourth 
Amendment cannot do.  The Act also goes beyond current 
Fourth  Amendment  case  law  in  restricting  access  by  law 
enforcement.  It  permits  law  enforcement  officers  to  ac-
quire  cell-site  records  only  if  they  meet  a  heightened
standard and obtain a court order.  If the American people