OK for Feds to Use GPS Tracking Evidence in Probe of State Parolee

Federal law enforcement can now use GPS data obtained by state authorities after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a lower court’s order suppressing search evidence in a federal drug conviction.

The defendant agreed to allow GPS monitoring as a condition of release following a state conviction, the Second Circuit noted July 25. So he had a “significantly diminished” expectation of privacy in the location data, it said.

How the Fourth Amendment applies to new technology tracking location information is currently a hotly litigated area of criminal law. In 2012, however, the Supreme Court clarified that ...