Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
Supreme Court: Warrant Needed for GPS Tracking
January 24, 2012
Not many folks expected the decision in U.S. v. Jones to be unanimous, but it was. It is now the law of the land that police must obtain a warrant before utilizing a GPS device to track criminal suspects. The installation of such a device without a warrant was held to constitute a "search" under the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The police actually had obtained a warrant to attach a GPS device to the Jeep of D.C. drug king Antoine Jones, but it had expired before they attached it. The Keystone Kops would be proud. Jones was convicted in part based on the tracking of his movements over 28 days and sentenced to life in prison.
While all the judges agreed on the narrow finding that a warrant is needed for GPS tracking, the court left for another time the broader implications of electronic surveillance on privacy rights.
This is the first time the Supreme Court has considered the constitutionality of location tracking devices – one has to wonder whether it is a harbinger for a future case considering cell phone tracking. I sure hope so.
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