On the Fourth Ammendment of the Constitution

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According to the Fourth Amendment, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” Without the Fourth Amendment, people would have no rights over their own personal privacy. Police officers could just enter people’s houses and take anything that they could use as evidence and use it against them. With the advancement in today’s technology, it is getting more and more difficult to define what exactly privacy is to us, and whether or not the Fourth Amendment protects it. In the Supreme Court case of United States v. Jones, FBI agents had a suspicion that Antoine Jones was involved in drug trafficking activities. To help federal agents with the case, they attached a GPS tracking device on his car to track his every move. The authorities were given a warrant to place the device in 10 days and only in the District of Columbia, but instead, they placed it in the 11th day in Maryland. After a month of tracking him, they linked Jones to a stash house with almost $850,000 in cash, a kilogram of crack cocaine, 97 kilograms of powder cocaine, and also items to package the narcotics. He was sentenced to life in prison for possessing cocaine with the intent to sell and distribute it. Jones filed an appeal that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. He argued that placing the GPS tracking device on his vehicle was a violation of his Fourth Amendment right because they invaded his private property without a proper warrant. Because of this, his conviction was invalid since the evidence used against him was obtained illegally. The key issue of the case was whether or not Jones’ Fourth Amendment right was violated or not. After a careful delib... ... middle of paper ... ...l Law Review. 06 Feb. 2012. 20 Nov. 2013 . Thompson, Richard M. "United States v. Jones: GPS Monitoring, Property, and Privacy." Congressional Research Service. 30 Apr. 2012. 18 Nov. 2013 . "UNITED STATES v. JONES." Legal Information Institute: Cornell University Law School. 19 Nov. 2013 . "UNITED STATES v. JONES." The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 18 Nov. 2013 . "US v. Jones Concerning Warrantless GPS Installation and Tracking Under the Fourth Amendment." EPIC - Electronic Privacy Information Center. 18 Nov. 2013 .

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