Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 14, 2009

It?s tragically common for appellate judges to ratify abuses of fundamental rights. It?s less common for them to urge police and policy makers to commit such violations. This recently happened in Wisconsin.

In 2003, a man named Michael Sveum was accused of stalking. Police obtained a warrant to place a GPS device on his car. They recorded his movements for about a month, then retrieved the device and downloaded the data. Sveum was eventually convicted of stalking.

Sveum appealed his conviction, which was upheld by the District 4 Court of Appeals. Amazingly, however, Judge Paul Lundsten went beyond the facts of the case to specify that police installation of a GPS device on a person?s car does not require a warrant ? contrary to the clear import of both the Fourth Amendment and Article 11 of the Wisconsin Declaration of Rights.

Aren?t judges supposed to correct abuses, rather than abetting them?

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.