New law review article: “GPS Tracking Out of Fourth Amendment Dead Ends: United States v. Jones and the Katz Conundrum”

New law review article: GPS Tracking Out of Fourth Amendment Dead Ends: United States v. Jones and the Katz Conundrum, 91 N.C. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2012), by Fabio Arcila, Jr.:

United States v. Jones, which reviewed the Fourth Amendment constitutionality of warrantless GPS tracking, may be the most important Fourth Amendment opinion since the Supreme Court decided Katz v. United States over four decades ago. Though Katz has dominated Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, it introduced significant ambiguities, such as the conundrum concerning whether a privacy or property model is controlling. Jones was a highly anticipated decision because it was widely understood that it might have ramifications for numerous core Fourth Amendment doctrines, including the Katz conundrum, and in turn for many governmental activities either currently or potentially subject to the Fourth Amendment. Examples include routine criminal law enforcement investigations, technological surveillance for either criminal or civil purposes (through GPS but also other means, such as location tracking capabilities embedded in individuals’ cellular telephones), and national security, to name but a few.