Business Law

Justices Extend 4th Amendment ‘Right to Privacy’ Interpretation to ‘Use of GPS’

The Supreme Court unanimously issued a ruling today which stated the Police (Government) must first obtain a warrant if they wish to use a G.P.S. tracking device on citizens’.  The ruling extended the interpretation of the 4th Amendment’s Right to Privacy to physical intrusions, but the Justices inferred that their ruling may include video surveillance in public places, automatic toll collection systems on highways, devices that allow motorists to signal for roadside assistance, and records kept by online merchants.

The case, United States v. Jones, involved Mr. Antoine Jones, who was the owner of a Washington nightclub when the police came to suspect him of being part of a cocaine-selling operation.  They placed a tracking device on his Jeep Grand Cherokee without a valid warrant, tracked his movements for a month and used the evidence they gathered to convict him of conspiring to sell cocaine.  He was sentenced to life in prison.  The D.C. Court of Appeals overturned his conviction on appeal saying the sheer amount of information that had been collected violated Mr. Jones’ Fourth Amendment Right to Privacy against unreasonable searches. 

The Supreme Court held that the government’s installation of a G.P.S. device on a target’s vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a ‘search,’ ” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority.  Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor joined the majority opinion.   “It is important to be clear about what occurred in this case,” Justice Scalia went on. “The government physically occupied private property for the purpose of obtaining information.  We have no doubt that such a physical intrusion would have been considered a ‘search’ within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when it was adopted.” 

Source:  The New York Times

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