Described as the most important Fourth Amendment case heard in a decade, the matter of United States v. Jones will begin arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in November.

 

At stake is the Obama administration’s position that law enforcement should be allowed to use GPS tracking devices on suspects’ automobiles without obtaining a warrant.

 

The case was brought to the Supreme Court by the U.S. Department of Justice, which previously lost a ruling before the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In that decision a three-judge panel decided unanimously to throw out the conviction and life sentence of Antoine Jones, a nightclub owner convicted of operating a cocaine distribution ring. The judges found the month-long auto surveillance of Jones by police to be unacceptable, saying law enforcement should have asked a judge for a warrant before using a GPS tracker.

 

Lower court federal judges have repeatedly referenced George Orwell’s novel 1984, in which the government, through its alleged leader, Big Brother, keeps the entire population under complete surveillance. The government’s slogan is “Big Brother is Watching You.”

 

In August 2010, Judge Alex Kosinski wrote that “1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it’s here at last.” In April of this year, Judge Diane Wood wrote that GPS surveillance would “make the system that George Orwell depicted in his famous novel, ‘1984,’ seem clumsy.” And in August Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn called a government request for cell phone location data an “Orwellian intrusion.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Court Case Asks if ‘Big Brother’ Is Spelled GPS (by Adam Liptak, New York Times)

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Warrantless GPS Surveillance Case (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers)

Obama Administration Fights to Allow Warrantless GPS Tracking (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

FBI Demands Return of Spy Device Student Found on His Car (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)