United States v. Jones

Holding: Attaching a GPS device to a vehicle and then using the device to monitor the vehicle’s movements constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment.

Plain English Holding: The defendant’s conviction for drug trafficking must be reversed when some of the evidence to convict him was obtained through a GPS tracking device on his car, because the attachment of the GPS tracking device and then the use of that device to monitor the car’s whereabouts is a “search” for purposes of the Fourth Amendment.

Judgment: Affirmed, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Scalia on January 23, 2012. Justice Sotomayor filed a concurring opinion. Justice Alito also filed a concurring opinion, which was joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan. The five concurring members of the Court do not resolve the question of whether the search was reasonable in this case.

Briefs and Documents

Merits Briefs for the Petitioner

• Brief for the  United States
• Reply brief for the  United States

Amicus briefs in support of the Petitioner

• Brief for the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law

Merits Briefs for the Respondent

• Brief for respondent Antoine Jones

 Amicus Briefs in Support of the Respondent

• Brief for the Council on American-Islamic Relations
• Brief for the ACLU et al. 
• Brief for Gun Owners of America, Inc.
• Brief for EPIC et al.
• Brief for Fourth Amendment Historians
• Brief for NACDL el al.
• Brief for Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Inc.
•  Brief for the Constitution Project
• Brief for the Center for Democracy and Technology et al.
• Brief for Yale Law School Information Society Project Scholars et al. 
• Brief for the Cato Institute
• Brief for the Rutherford Institute and National Motorists Association

Certiorari-stage documents

• Opinion below (D.C. Circuit) _
• Petition for certiorari
• Petitioner's reply

• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of Gun Owners of America, Inc. et al.