Supreme Court hears case on drug-sniffing dogs' role in searches

[Newsjock]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/10147893.htm

BY STEPHEN HENDERSON
Knight Ridder Newspapers


WASHINGTON - (KRT) - An hour of high-minded debate at the Supreme Court on Wednesday over the scope and limits of the Fourth Amendment and personal privacy boiled down to a five-word question: Is a sniff a search?

Roy Caballes said it is - especially when police stop you for speeding, then have a K-9 unit sniff around your car for drugs. In Caballes' case, the dog found $256,000 worth of marijuana stashed in the trunk. Police arrested Caballes, and he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Caballes' lawyer told the high court Wednesday that the traffic stop didn't give Illinois state troopers probable cause to search Caballes' car for drugs, so the dog's sharp nose was an infringement on Caballes' privacy rights.

But Illinois officials, backed by the Justice Department, told the justices that a sniffing dog isn't really a search, at least not as far as the Constitution is concerned. It's a reasonable investigative tool, they said, no different from the trooper's own eyes or nose. Moreover, Caballes has no right of privacy when it comes to contraband.

"Dog sniffs are unique in that they only reveal the presence or absence of contraband," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan told the justices. "And there's no privacy right for drugs."

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[oscar111]

1. dogs who do that for recreation ought to be arrested

period

[jilln]

2. Reminds me of when I was in Spanish Club in high school...

and we were collecting aluminum cans to recycle for money and send to some charity somewhere down south (not being snobby, I just really don't remember) that helped people get artificial limbs or something.

Anyway, one day I get called to the principal's office because the drug dog alerted on my car. They threatened me and yelled at me (and I was a good kid, good student). They said they'd call my parents if I didn't let them search my car. I said go ahead and call my parents but somehow they searched my car anyway and found... NOTHING.

Apparently I had collected empty beer cans among the others and though they were no longer in the car, the dog still alerted.

I guess I had no right to privacy either.

[gulfcoastliberal]

3. Based on WOD precedent,

The 4th amendment means nothing. The judicial-prison complex depends on these bogus laws to keep their economy going. The failed policies continue to ruin lives. When is enough enough?

[Rex]

4. Why not lose probable cause if you're in power?

Hell, we already lost due process. Scary shit.

Remember folks, if a German Shepard sniffs your crotch he iz only doinz hiz duty!