We have been periodically updating Maryland readers on an important drug crimes case that recently went before the U.S. Supreme Court. A nightclub owner in Washington, D.C. was originally convicted of drug conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison after police placed a GPS tracking device on his car to track his movements and surveil his activities for a period of four weeks.

But law enforcement did not have a warrant to install the device. Because of this, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction, citing a violation of the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights against illegal search and seizure.

As we have previously written, this case could set an important precedent in the battle between the privacy of average citizens and law enforcement's use of increasingly sophisticated tracking technology. Thankfully, the Supreme Court recently upheld the appellate court's ruling.

Not only was the decision upheld, it was upheld unanimously. All nine justices were in agreement that the defendant's Fourth Amendment protections were violated by the warrantless GPS monitoring of his vehicle.

There was some disagreement as to which was a greater violation: the trespass involved in placing the GPS device or the extended length of time that police followed the defendant.

Several justices agreed with an opinion written by Justice Alito which said, "The use of longer term GPS monitoring in investigations of most offenses impinges on expectations of privacy. We need not identify with precision the point at which the tracking of the vehicle became a search, for the line was surely crossed before the four-week mark."

Hopefully, this ruling will be a reminder to law enforcement: New technology will surely make it easier to monitor and invade the privacy of citizens. However, as long as our constitutional rights are upheld, there are limits on how such technology can be used.

Source: The Washington Post, "Supreme Court says search warrants needed when police use GPS devices to track suspects," Jan. 23, 2012