BizTech Law Blog

U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Warrantless GPS Tracking

Let's revisit a previous posting regarding the scope of the Fourth Amendment in the digital era. 

Last year, the Department of Justice requested the U.S. Supreme Court to approve the warrantless and covert attachment by law enforcement of a GPS tracking device to an individual's vehicle. The DOJ’s request arose from a U.S. Court of Appeals decision, which vacated the life sentence of a convicted drug dealer.  In that case, the Court of Appeals held that law enforcement violated the individual’s Fourth Amendment rights by secretly attaching a GPS tracking device to the individual’s vehicle without a warrant.

In broad terms, the Fourth Amendment protects an individual from unreasonable searches and seizures.  As it stands today, unless an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy, local and federal law enforcement are not required to obtain a warrant prior to conducting a search. Does the covert attachment of a GPS tracking device to a vehicle without a search warrant violate a person's Fourth Amendment rights?

The answer is YES according to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, the high court ruled that police violated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment when they attached a GPS tracking device to a suspect's vehicle without a search warrant.  Therefore, in the future, police must obtain a search warrant before attaching a GPS tracking unit or similar device to a suspect's vehicle.  If they do not, the government risks violating the Fourth Amendment and the subsequent reversal of any resulting conviction.

The Court's decision also offers an important glimpse of how future privacy cases regarding issues such as cellphone privacy, email, and online documents may be decided. Stay tuned for future posting on those topics.

Categories: Privacy