WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to take up an important privacy case for the digital age, whether the police need a warrant before using a global positioning system device to track a suspect's movements.
In court papers filed Friday, the administration is appealing a lower court ruling that reversed a criminal conviction because the police did not obtain a warrant for the GPS device they secretly installed on a man's car.
The federal appeals court in Washington said that officers violated the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches. Other appeals courts have ruled that search warrants aren't necessary for GPS tracking.
The Justice Department says prompt resolution of the divergent opinions is critically important to law enforcement.
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