Obama Administration Argues No Warrant Required for GPS Tracking of Citizens

by Joe Wolverton, II

The federal government informed an appeals court on Thursday that it has the right and the power to place GPS tracking devices on the privately owned vehicles of citizens without obtaining a warrant. This is in open rebellion to a Supreme Court decision from January that held that such warrantless installation of tracking devices on cars was unconstitutional.

In a case being heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Obama administration argued that since the Supreme Court's ruling didn't specifically mandate the obtaining of a search warrant in all situations, then the justices intended to leave a loophole open -- a loophole large enough to mount a tracking device.

According to the Justice Department's spokesperson, "A warrant is not needed for a GPS search, as the [Supreme] Court ... did not resolve that question." As quoted in an article in the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department has "advised agents and prosecutors going forward to take the most prudent steps and obtain a warrant for new or ongoing investigations," just in case.

This sort of circular reasoning is commonplace in Washington. The federal government claims that warrants are unnecessary, yet insists that its minions attempt to obtain them. This is precisely the vagueness and doubletalk that creates chaos and throws up a smokescreen behind which the palladium of American civil liberties is destroyed.

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