By Davi Barker at The Silver Underground:
In the case of US v. Jones the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that law enforcement required a warrant to install a GPS tracking device on nightclub owner Antoine Jones’ car. In doing so they tossed out his drug conspiracy conviction and life sentence. But before we celebrate we have to ask, why does all the coverage of the story read like, “law enforcement might need a probable-cause warrant” and “law enforcement in most instances must get a search warrant.” Well, because that’s the language used by the Supreme Court Justices in what’s being called the most important Fourth Amendment case in the computer era.
Although all nine Supreme Court Justices agreed to overturn the charges in this case, they disagreed five to four as to why. Justice Alito wrote that police, to avoid legal ambiguity, “may always seek a warrant,” but did not actually resolve that ambiguity because the Justices never actually said that a warrant was necessary in all cases. Here’s how it breaks down.
Read the rest of the article at The Silver Underground.
Wes Messamore,
Editor in Chief, THL
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