2018-IPG-38 (OBTAINING CELL SITE INFO: CARPENTER)

This IPG discusses the United States Supreme Court decision in Carpenter v. United States (2018) 138 S.Ct. 2206, a case deciding whether a warrant is required to obtain cell site location information (CSLI), and its potential impact on law enforcement’s ability to obtain CSLI.  Among the issues discussed: (i) Does this decision have any real impact on the ability of law enforcement in California to obtain CSLI without a warrant – considering that the California Electronic Communication Privacy Act already generally requires a warrant for electronic communication information?  (ii)  Will this decision impact a prosecutor’s ability to subpoena third party records in general when a defendant has a privacy interest in the third-party records? (iii) If exigent circumstances exist, can the government obtain either historical or real-time CSLI without a warrant?