Carpenter on Remand: Good Faith Exception Applies

On remand from the Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit considered United States v. Carpenter, the subject of the Supreme Court’s groundbreaking decision on the use of cell-site location data.  In light of the Supreme Court’s holding that such data requires a warrant, the Sixth Circuit considered whether the data should be suppressed.  Unfortunately for Mr. Carpenter, the court held that the good faith exception applied. 

The Sixth Circuit held that the FBI agents relied in good faith on the Stored Communications Act when they obtained the defendant’s cell-site data. The court reasoned that there is little logical difference between an agent relying in good faith on a faulty warrant and an agent relying in good faith on a faulty law.

Going forward, the government must obtain a warrant to compel a wireless carrier to provide cell-site location data, but data obtained under the SCA prior to Carpenter falls under the good faith exception. 

Opinion available here.