Gratuitous use of the muppet Animal at the end

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The Supreme Court has ruled, unanimously, a search warrant must be obtained before putting a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking unit on someone's car to track them.

Supporters of the current president and people who share his way of thinking (Reboobicans and Damnocrats mostly) are no doubt grinding their teeth in frustration.

"It hands a key defeat to the Obama administration, as lawyers at the Justice Department have defended vigorously their use of location tracking writ large," states Tony Romm, writing for Politco. This story also includes a link which will dump a PDF copy of the decision to your computer.

Before you Reboobicans celebrate too much, note: This is merely a continuation of a policy Reboobicans endorsed when Dubya was pres. Damnocrats are just falling in line.

Anyone else want to join me in celebrating and thumbing our nose at those who attempt to take away our rights?

Pardon me a moment. I must do a victory dance. I apologize in advance for any earthquakes this may cause.

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OK, back.

The case went to the SCOTUS on behalf of a nightclub owner whom police suspected also dealt in contraband drugs. They tagged his ride without getting a warrant. That eventually led to his being arrested on drug charges, whereupon he faced spending the rest of his life as a guest of the state in an Iron Bar Hotel.

Romm adds "In arguments, the government contended that vehicles traveling on public roads lack a reasonable expectation of privacy, relying on a 1983 case involving the placement of a so-called beeper in a container that police tracked. But the argument was met with skepticism before the court, which noted the great advances in location tracking technology in over two decades."

Indeed it has. If you have a "smart" phone, it can be used to track you, an idea many parents appreciate. The flip side is predators can also track our kids. Those in the know can also turn on a cell phone remotely and activate the camera function. Now they know where you are, who you're with and etc.. Yes huhn.

At the same time I exult in this decision, I note it may come as a blow to the Thin Blue Line. I count myself as having a number of good friends who serve in law enforcement and for them, I feel some regret. Already held to a higher standard than I could ever manage to achieve, this decision simply raises the bar a bit more.

At the same time, considering laws passed and approved by the Idiotocracy in Washington, that same bar has been lowered quite a bit. It's time it went back up some.

Arg. I just can't find enough good to say about this SCOTUS decision. The fact that it is also unanimous makes me want to run down the street shouting (I'd take 10 steps, collapse and EMS would have to bring me oxygen).

ROCK AND ROLL!

This one just rocks. Absolutely rocks.

Here's a link to Nina Totenberg's story on the decision for you NPR junkies like me.