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The Institute for Justice says its data show that a century-old Supreme Court doctrine created a huge exception to the Fourth Amendment. Police can traipse onto the vast majority of private property in the country without a warrant thanks to a century-old Supreme Court decision, according to a new study by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public-interest law firm. In a study published in the spring 2024 issue of Regulation, a publication of the Cato Institute, Institute for Justice attorney Josh Windham and research analyst David Warren estimate that at least 96 percent of all private land in the...

The queries targeted people involved in Jan. 6 and George Floyd protests, and donors to a failed congressional candidate ... The FBI improperly used warrantless search powers against U.S. citizens more than 278,000 times in the year ending November 2021, according to an unsealed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) filing. U.S. citizens covered in that improper effort included people involved in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021; George Floyd protesters during the summer of 2020; and donors to a failed congressional candidate, the filing said. ... The court filing, which spanned 127 pages, was unsealed Friday by the FISC,...

Did you hear that Joe Biden’s Department of Justice wanted the Supreme Court to rule that police could search Americans’ homes for firearms — and confiscate them — without a warrant?In the case of Caniglia vs. Strom, this issue was in play. Had SCOTUS ruled that police could do that, your Second Amendment rights would have been in grave jeopardy.In March, Biden’s DoJ filed a brief with the Supreme Court in this case. It said:In its first amicus brief before the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice argued the actions taken by law enforcement to confiscate the petitioner’s firearms without...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday morning will hear arguments in a major privacy controversy about police tracking people through their cellphones that may bring about permanent changes to how the courts interpret the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. At issue in Carpenter v. United States is the constitutionality of police's warrantless search and seizure of a cellphone user’s records to uncover that person’s location and movements. The government obtained location data in 2011 on Timothy Carpenter, a suspected criminal in Detroit, without getting a warrant. Carpenter appealed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the government did not need...

A Nevada court has ruled FBI agents can dress up as ISP repairmen to blag their way into a suspect's home without a search warrant – but must tell the courts about it when they do. The ruling stems from a case brought by the Feds against Malaysian poker player Wei Seng Phua and his son, whom the agency accused of running an illegal betting syndicate from a luxury Las Vegas villa during last year's FIFA World Cup. The duo hired the house in the grounds of Caesars Palace casino on the famous Strip, and asked for large-screen monitors, laptops,...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A woman has sued the city of Post Falls and police officials after her northern Idaho home was searched without a warrant. In a lawsuit filed against the city, Police Chief Scot Haug, and several police officers in Coeur d'Alene's U.S. District Court last week, Melissa A. Miller contends she sustained physical injuries, emotional pain, lost wages and other damages because of the search.

"The boy was questioned by the principal and a sheriff's deputy, who also wanted to search the family home without a warrant, Henkelman said. "He started asking me questions about if I have firearms, and [the deputy said] he's going to have to search my house. Search my house? I just wanted to know what happened."

In 1991, George Holliday filmed the LAPD’s arrest and beating of Rodney King. The videotape provoked national controversy. If a similar incident happened today, it might provoke something else: the arrest of George Holliday. Cell phones and cameras with video-recording capability have become ubiquitous. This has led to an increase in the filming of police officers, which has led to a backlash: Cops have begun arresting those who film them, on charges such as interfering with an investigation—even when the filmer is not interfering and the officer is not investigating. In one now-famous example, motorcyclist Anthony Graber’s helmet cam was...

We partnered with Wired to bring you a peek inside an FBI car-tracking device. The device is similar to the one Yasir Afifi found underneath his car. If you're curious where this one came from, Wired has posted a writeup about Karen Thomas, the woman who found this tracker under her car. They've also posted a video of Kyle doing the teardown. The device comprises of a GPS unit for receiving the car's position, an RF transmitter for relaying your location to the interested authority (aka the FBI), and a set of sweet D-cell batteries that power the whole enchilada....

GPS And Taxes: An Intrusive Combination The Washington Dispatch ^ | July 18, 2003 | Cathryn Crawford Posted on Friday, July 18, 2003 7:07:28 AM by Cathryn Crawford GPS And Taxes: An Intrusive Combination by Cathryn Crawford Jul 18, 2003 Some things just aren’t that shocking anymore. Oregon, the state known for its law that fines you for speaking out against a public worker or a state official, has a new socialistic program in mind. It’s a dream come true for the government, both state and federal, in that it not only promotes the idea of Big Brother, but it...

Idea for road-use tax is expected to hinge on odometer readings, then GPS tracking, to replace revenue lost to fuel efficiency. With gas-tax revenues plummeting, the state of North Carolina is looking seriously at taxing motorists for how far they drive. If the “road-use tax” is implemented, it would at first be simple – with the state checking your odometer annually and taxing you based on how many miles you have driven. But transportation experts say new GPS technology could allow the state to charge people different rates based on when and where they drive, in an attempt to manage...

First, they hand us our Obama-approved tire gauges. Next, they police our odometers. Fresh from North Carolina, here’s the latest Nanny State proposal: Monitoring our odometers and taxing us accordingly. With gas-tax revenues plummeting, the state of North Carolina is looking seriously at taxing motorists for how far they drive. If the “road-use tax” is implemented, it would at first be simple – with the state checking your odometer annually and taxing you based on how many miles you have driven. But transportation experts say new GPS technology could allow the state to

While the exact details are still being ironed out, Gov. Kulongoski's web page gives the basics of the plan. In it he states, "As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system." He is creating a task force "to partner with auto manufacturers to refine technology that would enable Oregonians to pay for the transportation system based on how many miles they drive." Key studies were performed in 2006 and 2007 that indicate that such a program would indeed...

Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves. FBI agents obtained logs from mobile phone companies corresponding to what their cellular towers had recorded at the time of a dozen different bank robberies in the Dallas area. The voluminous records showed that two phones had made calls around the time of all 12 heists, and that those phones belonged to men named Tony Hewitt and Corey Duffey. A jury eventually...

The warrantless use of a global positioning device on a vehicle by police does not violate a driver's right to privacy under either the U.S. Constitution or the New York state Constitution, an upstate appeals panel decided last week. In becoming what it said was the first state appeals court in New York to address the issue, the Appellate Division, 3rd Department, panel determined that the privacy expectations of individuals under both the federal and state constitutions are lower when they are in their automobiles than when they are in their homes. "Because we recognize the diminished expectation of privacy...

Someone was attacking women in Fairfax County and Alexandria, grabbing them from behind and sometimes punching and molesting them before running away. After logging 11 cases in six months, police finally identified a suspect. David Lee Foltz Jr., who had served 17 years in prison for rape, lived near the crime scenes. To figure out if Foltz was the assailant, police pulled out their secret weapon: They put a Global Positioning System device on Foltz's van, which allowed them to track his movements. Police said they soon caught Foltz dragging a woman into a wooded area in Falls Church. After...

Someone was attacking women in Fairfax County and Alexandria, grabbing them from behind and sometimes punching and molesting them before running away. After logging 11 cases in six months, police finally identified a suspect. David Lee Foltz Jr., who had served 17 years in prison for rape, lived near the crime scenes. To figure out if Foltz was the assailant, police pulled out their secret weapon: They put a Global Positioning System device on Foltz's van, which allowed them to track his movements. Police said they soon caught Foltz dragging a woman into a wooded area in Falls Church. After...

Gas prices were too high and we weren't green enough. Fine, buy an electric car or gas saving car and all is fine. Right? Wrong. The Oregon Governor thinks gas taxes are going away. His answer? Tax the miles you drive. Tax the miles you drive with GPS technology. Think they are kidding? They're not.

State officials say Minnesota is working on a pilot program to test the idea of charging drivers for each mile they drive. Other states around the country are considering a vehicle mileage tax, as revenues from the gas tax are expected to decline.

Massachusetts may consider a mileage charge By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, February 17, 2009 A tentative plan to overhaul Massachusetts' transportation system by using GPS chips to charge motorists a quarter-cent for every mile behind the wheel has angered some drivers. "It's outrageous, it's kind of Orwellian, Big Brotherish," said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, who drafted legislation last week to prohibit the practice. "You'd need a whole new department of cronies just to keep track of it." But a "Vehicle Miles Traveled" program like the one the governor may unveil this week has already been tested — with...