NPR

Justices May Impose New Limits On Government Access To Cellphone Data

In arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, a majority of justices raised concerns about privacy in the modern digital age.
A woman checks her cellphone as she waits in line to enter the Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear arguments in <em>Carpenter v. United States </em>about the government's access to cellphone data.

In the political world, conservatives often accuse liberals of being soft on crime. At the U.S. court, that's not how it goes. Case in point, at the high court on Wednesday, a majority of the justices across ideological lines indicated they may be willing to impose new limits on the government's ability to gain access to large amounts of information retained by private companies in the digital age.

The question before the court in Carpenter v. United States is whether police have to get a search warrant to obtain cellphone tracking information that is routinely kept by wireless providers.

The case arose out of a

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