In January 2012, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Jones, holding that the government’s attachment of a GPS tracker to a car constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. The existence of the memos the ACLU is working to obtain, drafted in the aftermath of the Jones decision, emerged after an FBI official discussed them publicly last year.
With technological innovation making it easier than ever for the government to track our movements, it is crucial that we know how law enforcement employs new technologies against ordinary citizens. But the Department of Justice refuses to disclose the rules under which law enforcement operates. The ACLU will continue its fight for the release of the memos, to ensure that the government respects the Constitution’s protection against unreasonable searches, and to combat the secrecy surrounding policies that could be affecting each and every one of us.