Dahlia Lithwick in Slate reports that the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Nov. 29 about a court case that focuses whether law enforcement can get access to the records of where anyone's cell phone has been without a warrant. Detroit police thought Timothy Carpenter was tied to a string of Radio Shack robberies in 2011. Without a warrant police were able to get the cell site location information that showed Carpenter's phone was at 12,898 locations over 127 days. Some of those locations were the Radio Shacks in question, and that led to 116 years in prison time for Carpenter. But shouldn't the police have faced a judge for permission to find out exactly where his phone was? Does that mean government officials have access to the records that show where you have been? Carpenter says he has the Fourth Amendment right to be free of warrantless government searches; the police say the Stored Communications Act allows them access to any personal papers and data turned over to a third party. Justice Samuel Alito says those cell phone records are just like bank records that police are allowed to access, saying everyone knows cell phones can be tracked. “Well, I mean, that’s a debatable empirical point whether people realize what’s going on. There’s reason to think maybe they do. I mean, people know, there were all these commercials, ‘Can you hear me now?,’ our company has lots of towers everywhere. What do they think that’s about?,” Alito said during arguments Nov. 29. Chief Justice John Roberts said there was a difference, in, “that you really don’t have a choice these days if you want to have a cellphone.” In the spring, expect a ruling on whether the records of the cell phones that everyone is expected to have, are accessible to law enforcement officials without a warrant.