GOOD NEWS: Court Sides With Justice Department, Allows Warrantless Video Surveillance on Private Property

To paraphrase Glenn Reynolds, they told me if I voted for John McCain that we'd see widespread surveillance of U.S. citizens... and they were right!

Police are allowed in some circumstances to install hidden surveillance cameras on private property without obtaining a search warrant, a federal judge said yesterday.

CNET has learned that U.S. District Judge William Griesbach ruled that it was reasonable for Drug Enforcement Administration agents to enter rural property without permission -- and without a warrant -- to install multiple "covert digital surveillance cameras" in hopes of uncovering evidence that 30 to 40 marijuana plants were being grown.

This is the latest case to highlight how advances in technology are causing the legal system to rethink how Americans' privacy rights are protected by law. In January, the Supreme Court rejected warrantless GPS tracking after previously rejecting warrantless thermal imaging, but it has not yet ruled on warrantless cell phone tracking or warrantless use of surveillance cameras placed on private property without permission.

Yesterday Griesbach adopted a recommendation by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Callahan dated October 9. That recommendation said that the DEA's warrantless surveillance did not violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and requires that warrants describe the place that's being searched.

As Mark Levin observes, every day we endure under this administration sees the circle of liberty tightening around us, the citizens that gave birth to this great country.

You know what to do on Tuesday. You know to call your friends, neighbors and family members and to rally them, to drive them to the polls, to do whatever it takes to fire this administration and begin our journey back to Constitutional government.