Judge Rules that Geofence Warrants are ‘Categorically Prohibited by 4th Amendment’
The federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is maintaining its position that so-called geofence warrants, which were used to track Jan. 6, 2021, “insurrection” participants, are “categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment,” which protects We the People from unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement and other arms of the government.
Judge James C. Ho issued an opinion that while geofence warrants “are powerful tools for investigating and deterring crime,” they overtly violate the U.S. Constitution and the protections it affords to people living in this country.
“The defendants here engaged in a violent robbery – and likely would have gotten away with it, but for this new technology,” Judge Ho wrote. “So I fully recognize that our panel decision today will inevitably hamper legitimate law enforcement interests.”
“But hamstringing the government is the whole point of our Constitution. Our Founders recognized that the government will not always be comprised of publicly-spirited officers – and that even good faith actors can be overcome by the zealous pursuit of legitimate public interests.”
Justice Ho also quoted The Federalist No. 51, at 349 (J. Cooke ed. 1961) which reads in support of his ruling:
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary,” but “experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions” because of “human nature,” which makes it “necessary to control the abuses of government.”
(Related: Have you read the Health Ranger’s article about how both Israel and the GOP completely lost his support in just six-and-a-half months following the October 7 Hamas attack?)
Supreme Court decision in Carpenter v. United States concurs with Judge Ho’s decision
Recognizing that he and his panel’s decision “is not costless,” Judge Ho continued in his opinion to emphasize the fact that our rights as Americans under the Constitution “are priceless” and are not something with which to be toyed.
“Reasonable minds can differ, of course, over the proper balance to strike between public interests and individual rights,” he further said.
“Time and time again, modern technology has proven to be a blessing as well as a curse. Our panel decision today endeavors to apply our Founding charter to the realities of modern technology, consistent with governing precedent. I concur in that decision.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) commented on the ruling as well by citing the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Carpenter v. United States. In that case, it was decided that “individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the location data implicated by geofence warrants.”
The EFF noted in that case that SCOTUS likewise determined geofence warrants to be unconstitutional because they require a provider, usually Google, to search “the entirety” of its location data “while law enforcement officials have no idea who they are looking for or whether the search will even turn up a result.”
Geofence warrants afford cops too much leeway to probe for evidence without reasonable suspicion or an actual warrant as traditionally defined. As such, geofence warrants violate Americans’ constitutional rights by their very definition.
Since the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled the opposite way, the issue will likely make its way all the way up to the Supreme Court, which will make a final decision on the matter.
“SCOTUS has long ruled against open and blanket warrants,” wrote someone on X about which direction the final ruling will probably go.
“They knew the ‘geofencing’ surveillance method was unconstitutional; why do you think they didn’t go after the 2000 Mules?” asked another.
More related news coverage can be found at Liberty.news.
German Study: mRNA Shots ‘Eat Away’ at Children’s Immune Systems
A bombshell German peer-reviewed study has revealed that Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause the immune systems of children to be literally “eaten away” by the antibody’s contained in the experimental shots. The team of researchers, […]
The post German Study: mRNA Shots ‘Eat Away’ at Children’s Immune Systems appeared first on The People’s Voice.
COVID Jabs Irreparably Damage Heart, Brain, Blood, Immune and Reproductive System – Study
A new study published Friday has concluded that Covid mRNA jabs cause irreparable damage to the heart, brain, blood, immune and reproductive systems of recipients. “This leads us to consider how and why so many […]
The post COVID Jabs Irreparably Damage Heart, Brain, Blood, Immune and Reproductive System – Study appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Germany to Extend Border Controls to Combat Illegal Migration
External border controls will continue around Germany until the number of illegal migrants drops significantly, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stated on Monday during a meeting with Federal Police Chief Dieter Romann in Rostock.
Although numbers have started to decline, they remain higher than in previous years.
“I am not willing to accept these figures,” Faeser emphasized. The German interior ministry is reportedly frustrated by the uneven distribution of refugees across Europe, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Faeser pointed out that only a few countries are shouldering the bulk of the migration burden.
She also confirmed that existing controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland will remain in place until the implementation of the Common European Asylum System which was approved this spring. However, this process will take several more months, with the earliest end to the checks expected in June 2025.
Despite a record influx of nearly 128,000 illegal migrants last year, this year’s numbers have dropped, with 53,000 illegal entries reported so far — a 16 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. German authorities attribute this decline in part to the reintroduced border controls.
The Federal Police report that most illegal entries occur via Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland.
The stationary checks on the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland were initially introduced on Oct. 16, following the earlier reinstatement of controls at the Austrian border. The decision came as German authorities noticed a rising influx of refugees and increased human smuggling activities along these routes.
VIDEO: Harris Pledges to Confiscate Guns & Pretends to be Normal at Convenience Store
On Monday, Alex Jones broke down how the bizarre-behavior beast Kamala Harris promises to come and take ’em.
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Italian State Media Reporter Apologizes Over Nazi SS Broadcast
The Italian journalist who recently interviewed a Ukrainian soldier wearing Nazi insignia has apologized.
Ilario Piagnerelli, a reporter with the Italian state broadcaster Rai News 24, said he “deeply regrets” the interview but called the uproar on social media a tool of pro-Russian propaganda.
In an extract from a report circulating online, Piagnerelli can be seen talking to a man wearing a khaki cap adorned with the insignia of the ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’ SS division, a unit that was convicted of war crimes by the Nuremberg Tribunal following World War II. The video is watermarked ‘Rai News 24’. As of Monday morning, however, the footage was no longer visible on Piagnerelli’s X account.
Sono cresciuto con un nonno partigiano, di quelli veri, che oggi non avrebbero dubbi nel distinguere tra invaso e invasore, tra chi resiste e chi occupa. Sono stato educato ai valori della Costituzione.
— Ilario Piagnerelli (@ilario82) August 19, 2024
Mi rammarico profondamente di aver dato voce, anche se per pochi secondi, a… pic.twitter.com/lBhBTtlax6
“I deeply regret having given voice, even if only for a few seconds, to a Ukrainian soldier who I only noticed wearing a patch with a Nazi symbol after the report aired,” Piagnerelli wrote on X on Monday.
“I grew up with a partisan grandfather, one of the real ones, who today would have no doubts in distinguishing between invader and invaded, between those who resist and those who occupy. I was educated in the values of the Constitution.”
Piagnerelli further talked about an alleged “network of pro-invasion profiles linked to Moscow in Italy, which dedicates its resources to discrediting my work and that of other correspondents. They pretend to be shocked, but they have found in that image a formidable argument for anti-Ukrainian propaganda,” the reporter argued.
Russian Foreign Ministry has accused Rai of “sinking to a new low,” with spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying that “the Western media continue to engage in the deliberate rehabilitation of Ukrainian neo-Nazis and a revision of the Nuremberg Tribunal verdicts.”
Piagnerelli had already “distinguished himself with stories about Bucha and a dead neo-Nazi from Pravy Sektor [Right Sector],” Zakharova claimed, but has now “sunk to new depths …”
“It is possible that next time Piagnerelli will film a Ukronazi with the symbols of the SS division ‘Reichsfuhrer SS,’”Zakharova stated, referring to a unit notorious for carrying out what is claimed to be the worst World War II massacre in Western Europe.
Over the weekend, Rai recalled two of its reporters back to Italy after Moscow launched a criminal probe into their illegal presence in Russia’s Kursk Region. On Wednesday, the broadcaster aired a TV report on the Ukrainian cross-border assault into the region in which a crew of journalists embedded with Kiev’s forces drove deep into Russian territory.