from Paul Opsommer
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously decided that the government placing GPS tracking devices on people’s vehicles is an act that should require a formal search warrant. State Rep. Paul Opsommer hailed the decision as a victory for the Bill of Rights.
“GPS tracking devices are important tools for law enforcement, but just like the police cannot come into your home and search it without a warrant, they should not be able to go into your driveway and stick a bug under your car unless they can first convince a judge there is a valid reason to do so,” said Opsommer, R-DeWitt. “The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution is explicit in its protection of the right of people to be secure in their person, and this unanimous decision overwhelmingly affirms this right.”
Opsommer also said that the ruling was important because of recent proposals both in Washington D.C. and Oakland County that would require people be taxed based on the number of miles a vehicle travels. Many of those proposals would have a GPS unit track when and where a person drives their car, assigning them an automatic electronic toll that could vary based on the road, the day of the week, time of day, and even the level of accompanying congestion.
“Now that the court has decided a warrant is needed to place a GPS unit on your car, we next need to ensure that the government can’t mandate these as standard equipment just to come up with a new and novel way to try to tax us,” Opsommer said. “We need to preserve our right to anonymous travel.”
Opsommer has introduced House Bills 4885 and 4262 to ban the practice in Michigan.