A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has reinforced the reversal of a case in which a man was convicted of drug trafficking. The man, a nightclub owner in Washington, D.C., was suspected by police to be guilty of drug crimes. In order to discover more information, a law enforcement agency had his car tracked with a GPS tracking device.

This tracking led to the man being connected to a house that was supposedly being used to stash drugs and money. But an issue arose when it became known that the tracker had been installed after the agency's warrant had expired. Yet another issue came up when it was found out that the installation itself occurred outside of the investigating agency's jurisdiction.

Originally convicted, the man had his life-term prison sentence overturned in an appeals court. The complications of the case allowed it to become a candidate for consideration by the Supreme Court. The high court eventually decided that it would hear the case.

A unanimous decision was returned. Surprising to some, the justices decided against the law enforcement agency.

Privacy advocates are excited by the ruling, especially since many decisions made by the legal system in recent years have allegedly disregarded privacy rights.

Five of the nine justices said that they could perceive future issues with both privacy and constitutional rights when monitoring through the use of technology is involved. The court will likely be watching for other cases such as this in the future, considering the group said that this case would not be the last word it has on the matter.

Law enforcement has to follow the law just like the general public. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure, and people accused of a crime should know that a warrant is required before police can track your location.

Source: Fox News, "Supreme Court: GPS devices equivalent of a search, police must get warrant," Jan. 23, 2012