It’s Unconstitutional for Parking Attendants to Chalk Your Tires

If you're like Alison Taylor of Michigan and have received multiple parking tickets, you've probably shaken your fist at the parking attendants and their little chalk, nonchalantly setting you up for failure by chalking your tires and sitting in wait until you've been there for a few minutes past the time limit. According to CNN, a federal appeals court ruled that chalking tires of parked cars qualifies as a "warrantless search" and is therefore unconstitutional.

"The City commences its search on vehicles that are parked legally, without probable cause or even so much as 'individualized suspicious of wrongdoing' -- the touchstone of the reasonableness standard," Circuit Judge Bernice Bouie Donald wrote in the decision.

As exciting as this news is, it may or may not apply to you in today's era of digital photos, license scanning software, and parking payment apps. Taking a picture of your car out in public is entirely legal, so police and traffic officials can still catch you overstaying your welcome without marking your tires with chalk and seeing if it moves.