Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously for a drug suspect who had an electronic tracking device attached to his car by police, who did not first obtain an extended warrant.
The justices on Monday said secretly placing the device and monitoring the man's movements for several weeks constituted a government "search," and therefore the man's constitutional rights were violated.

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This makes a difference to me. Not that I expect someone of tracking me. Just, that I am a free citizen and want to know that some one in a position of authority cannot just willy-nilly track my or everyone's movements without cause or some sort of check in place. Let's face it, some people in a position of power abuse that power. If the decision stops with a single person, that is a single point of failure. At least having someone in position where they must listen to the police's reasoning and sign off will prevent a police officer from abusing their power quite so easily.

Not only this, but I cannot think of the last time that the U. S. supreme court made a unanimous decision in favor of individual rights. I don't really keep track of such things, but my impression is that police and other authorities expected this to go the other way when resewing the case.

Someone will say this is the pendulum swinging back after 9/11. All the rights American citizens lost during the orgy of rights drawbacks that came after that disaster are on the way out. I doubt it. This is a single decision. Looking at the layout of the current Supreme Court tels me the leanings are still aimed squarely at "The government knows best."

There was a guy who found a device attached to his car. He put it up on eBay and the cops came round wanting their device back. I bet he is rolling on the floor when he catches wind of this decision.