Feds Can’t Install GPS Devices on Cars without Warrant, Says the Supreme Court

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that law enforcement agencies cannot attach a global positioning system device to a vehicle without obtaining a warrant first.

The court's ruling dismissed the Justice Department’s claim that it did not need to have permission to tack on a GPS to a Jeep Grand Cherokee owned by the wife of Antoine Jones, a Washington, D.C., nightclub owner and suspected drug dealer who has been sentenced to life.

Government agents had indeed obtained a warrant, but installed the device after the 10-day deadline had expired. During the four-week period that they tracked the vehicle, they collected over 2,000 pages of data – and even had to secretly replace the GPS battery when it was parked in Maryland.

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