Supreme Court Case: Carpenter V. United States

Words: 446
Pages: 2

Brandon E. Campbell
3AB
Current event #4

A recent case that has developed and heard by the Supreme Court looks at how the right to privacy is affected as technology grows. In the article, the case, Carpenter v. United states, is described to be a challenge to the court systems as developing technology in modern society becomes a larger factor in everyday life. As the background of the case is given, it is said that a group of around 15 men for several years had been traveling to rob Radio Shack stores and selling the stolen products for large sums of money. After Timothy Carpenter, one of the suspected ringleaders, was arrested he confessed to the crimes yet some of the evidence used against him was argued by Timothy and his lawyers. This
…show more content…
One of which would be if unreasonable searches of these records should require a warrant in order to be considered valid. This question goes along with the 4th Amendment which protects an individual against unreasonable search and seizure. The Supreme Court had stated in earlier cases that an individual loses their 4th amendment rights when information is shared with another group such as a phone company. One of these cases included Mapp v. Ohio where Mapp was found to have evidence for a crime that was not intended to be investigated with the warrant obtained by authorities. The 4th Amendment is a good example of a civil liberty. A civil liberty is a right given to every citizen in order to protect them from the government becoming too powerful. Carpenter’s lawyer could have also argued for the exclusionary rule to be enacted. The exclusionary rule makes illegally obtained evidence, evidence found without a warrant, void in court of law in a trial for the original crime the defendant is accused of. With this however, there are several exceptions to a search warrant including if the evidence is in plain view, if the evidence would have been found anyways throughout the search, and good faith meaning the officer believed that they were abiding by the