Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-402_h315.pdf
Page Number: 44.0

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

17 

KENNEDY, J., dissenting 

financial records and telephone records.

Indeed, the opposite is true.  A person’s movements are 
not  particularly  private.    As  the  Court  recognized  in 
Knotts, when the defendant there “traveled over the public 
streets  he  voluntarily  conveyed  to  anyone  who  wanted  to 
look the fact that he was traveling over particular roads in
a particular direction, the fact of whatever stops he made,
and  the  fact  of  his  final  destination.”    460  U. S.,  at 
281282.  Today  expectations  of  privacy  in  one’s  location 
are, if anything, even less reasonable than when the Court 
decided  Knotts  over  30  years  ago.  Millions  of  Americans 
choose to share their location on a daily basis, whether by 
using a variety of location-based services on their phones, 
or by sharing their location with friends and the public at
large via social media.

And  cell-site  records,  as  already  discussed,  disclose  a
person’s  location  only  in  a  general  area.    The  records  at 
issue  here,  for  example,  revealed  Carpenter’s  location 
within  an  area  covering  between  around  a  dozen  and 
several  hundred  city  blocks.    “Areas  of  this  scale  might
encompass bridal stores and Bass Pro Shops, gay bars and 
straight  ones,  a  Methodist  church  and  the  local  mosque.”
819  F. 3d  880,  889  (CA6  2016).    These  records  could  not 
reveal  where  Carpenter  lives  and  works,  much  less  his 
“ ‘familial,  political,  professional,  religious,  and  sexual 
associations.’ ”    Ante,  at  12  (quoting  Jones,  supra,  at  415 
(SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring)).

By  contrast,  financial  records  and  telephone  records  do
“ ‘revea[l] . . . personal affairs, opinions, habits and associ-
ations.’ ”    Miller,  425  U. S.,  at  451  (Brennan,  J.,  dissent-
ing);  see  Smith,  442  U. S.,  at  751  (Marshall,  J.,  dissent-
ing).  What persons purchase and to whom they talk might
disclose  how  much  money  they  make;  the  political  and 
religious organizations to which they donate; whether they 
have visited a psychiatrist, plastic surgeon, abortion clinic,
or AIDS treatment center; whether they go to gay bars or