The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Jones1 is remarkable because, unlike any other Fourth Amendment decision in recent memory, it left unanswered several questions which, upon a first reading, many people assumed it had actually resolved. While there may be a difference of opinion over its meaning, Jones appears to be a narrow holding that leaves important issues for another day. The decision is also remarkable because, 221 years after the Fourth Amendment was adopted, the Supreme Court is still sharply divided over what constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. It is oddly reminiscent of what Justice Lewis Powell said many years ago about the law of search and seizure in automobile cases: “The Court apparently cannot agree even on what it has held previously, let alone on how these cases should be decided.”2

The defendant, Antoine Jones, operated a nightclub in Washington, D.C., and was suspected of trafficking in narcotics. The police applied for a search warrant authorizing them to track his vehicle.3 A warrant was issued, authorizing the installation of a GPS device on his vehicle in the District of Columbia within 10 days of its issuance. On the 11th day, and in Maryland, the police attached a device and tracked the defendant’s vehicle for 28 days. Based on this non-compliance with the warrant’s requirements, the government conceded that the warrant was void and that a warrantless surveillance had been conducted.

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