James Kilpatrick has an OpEd on the Supreme Court case of Florida v. Rabb. This should be an interesting 4th Amendment case — simply boils down to whether the state can use a dog to sniff the outside of your house and based on what the dog has to say, then search your house.
This case will give the Supremes a chance to show whether they really believe in the sanctity of the home as they play off cases like Kyllo (can’t use heat imaging devices on homes) with cases like Caballes (dog sniff OK on cars even without other suspicion). The court has already pretty much given up on car ownership rights — we’ll have to see what happens with your home.
A loss on this one would be devastating — The police would be able to take a dog (and note that drug-sniffing dogs are not particularly reliable in their results) to any home and get it to “point,” and you’d be subject to a full search of your home.
Great Harry's Ghost! on Do Cheech and Chong roll his joints?: “aye! Or rolling down the windows and opening the wind wings… (auld phart reference)” May 27, 16:48
