Ohio GPS Case

As we wrote last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision on the police's GPS tracking of a suspect's vehicle (United States v. Jones). A similar case is pending in the Ohio Supreme Court. While Jones involved the 28-day warrantless tracking of a vehicle registered to a suspect's wife, the Ohio case involves the warrantless tracking of a suspect's rental car for a 6-day period. In light of Jones, it appears that the Ohio Supreme Court must find that the GPS tracking was a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. However, at least one commentator believes that the court might also consider whether the search required a warrant or was reasonable without one. The court in Jones did not consider this issue because the government had not raised the argument below. See the briefs of the appellant and the state in the Ohio case, as well as video of the oral argument before the Ohio Supreme Court.