SCOTUS Grants Cert in U.S. v Jones - With an Added Twist

The United States Supreme Court has granted certiori in United States v. Jones, but they have also added an additional question for the parties to argue: "Whether the government violated respondent’s Fourth Amendment rights by  installing the GPS tracking device on his vehicle without a valid warrant and without his consent.”

This should be interesting, but I sincerely doubt that the Court will rule that as a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The standard on GPS tracking has been United States v. Knotts, 460 US 276 (1983) where the Rhenquist Court found that using a beeper tracking device on a vehicle was not an illegal search because the person being tracked has no reasonable expectation of privacy on a public street. The beeper was regarded as a technological aid to human senses.

Calling the installation of the device an illegal search and seizure would effectively render Knotts moot, and we know this Court doesn't like to mess with long established precedents (even if they believe they're flawed).