The U. S. Supreme Court ruled today that police must first obtain a search warrant before using GPS devices to track a suspect’s vehicle, agreeing with an earlier appeals court ruling, but rejecting the Obama administration’s position on the case.
In delivering the decision, Justice Antonia Scalia wrote that the court holds “that the government’s installation of a GPS device on a target’s vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a ‘search,'” and therefore violated the individual’s Fourth Amendment rights.
The case itself concerned a Washington, D.C. club owner and suspected drug dealer, Antoine Jones, who had his vehicle’s movements monitored for a month and was eventually sentenced to life in prison. Jones’ conviction was overturned by the aforementioned appellate court on the grounds that the police did not have a search warrant when they placed the GPS tracking device on his vehicle.
This is a win for U. S. citizens’ rights.
