Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-783_k53l.pdf
Page Number: 27

Cite as:  593 U. S. ____ (2021) 

3 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

a “right” to use the computer to obtain the specific license-
plate information.  Everyone agrees that he obtained it for 
personal gain, not for a valid law enforcement purpose.  And 
without a valid law enforcement purpose, he was forbidden 
to use the computer to obtain that information. 

B 
The  majority  postulates  an  alternative  reading  of  this
definitional provision: So long as a person is entitled to use 
a  computer  to  obtain  information  in  at  least  one  circum-
stance,  this  statute  does  not  apply  even  if  the  person  ob-
tains the data outside that circumstance.  In effect, the ma-
jority reads the statute to apply only when a person is “not
entitled [under any possible circumstance] so to obtain” in-
formation.    This  interpretation  is  flawed  for  a  number  of 
reasons. 

1 

Foremost,  that  interpretation  is  contrary  to  the  plain 
meaning of the text.  Entitlements are necessarily circum-
stance dependent; a person is entitled to do something only
when “proper grounds” or facts are in place.  Black’s Law 
Dictionary, at 477.  Focusing on the word “so,” the majority
largely avoids analyzing the term “entitled,” concluding at 
the outset in a single sentence that Van Buren was entitled 
to obtain this license-plate information.  Ante, at 5.  But the 
plain meaning of “entitled” compels the opposite conclusion. 
Because Van Buren lacked a law enforcement purpose, the
“proper grounds” did not exist.  He was not entitled to ob-
tain the data when he did so. 

A few real-world scenarios illustrate the point.  An em-
ployee who is entitled to pull the alarm in the event of a fire
is not entitled to pull it for some other purpose, such as to
delay a meeting for which he is unprepared.  A valet who 
obtains  a  car  from  a  restaurant  patron  is—to  borrow  the
language from §1030(e)(6)—“entitled” to “access [the car]”