SCOTUS.
This is good news. Many of these dogs are extremely “well-trained” tools used by the cops to turn traffic stops in to drug busts.
Even "law and order" conservatives should respect the Bill of Rights.
They will ALL have dogs now.....................
Roberts, take the Constitution seriously? Sometimes.
and it was reasonable to hold the motorist because the officer suspected they may be carrying drugs.
It makes sense. I assumed what they were saying was that a cop can’t decide, simply because he has you, that you are going to be checked out by a dog. I’m confused.
I was stopped in Chicago last Thanksgiving eve at 11:30 pm on the last half hour of a drive from central KY. I had my metrosexual multipoo in the car and was surprising my wife who was with the grandkids. I was driving in a way that caused the cop to ask, “Why are you driving like a maniac.” I was also in my Scion FR-S.
Anyway, when they saw it was some 61 year old surprising his wife on thanksgiving and, truth be told, I wasn’t driving all that bad, they let me off with a warning - but not until the K-9 unit showed up to give me a good sniffing. He had been called before the cop even walked up to the car.
The only probable cause was the lateness of the hour, the driving and the car. That should not have been reasonable suspicion.
Holly Pardon. You will never believe the 100s of thousands that now go free. Conservatives knew all the time that it was a 4th amendment violation. Why can’t “law enforcement” follow the darn LAW!!?
No problem. They will just dawdle until the police dog and handler can get there.
Just so y’all know the local impact of Marijuana legalization:
The guy who sat across from me on the 6:00 A.M. train was going to work stoned out of his mind already.
While I would never have drugs in my truck, it is not any business of the government (police) to know what I have in my truck.
If they have probable cause to believe I have committed at crime, or they have a search warrant, then by all means, search away. Otherwise, write me up for my infraction and leave me be.
(of course... a police officer can pull any kind of “probable cause” out of his butt, i.e. - ‘acting suspiciously’)
Thomas, Alito and Kennedy are wrong. Roberts and Scalia are right.
You sure you've got the right FReepname?
This is good, but all a cop has to do is say “I’m detecting an odor of marijuana” and they can tear your car apart. No dog needed.
I no longer respect Roberts after his willful re-writing of that collection of rules and regulations known as 0bamacare.
Which I refer to as 0bamaRobertscare.
This is very interesting. I wonder, if the suspected crime were more serious, would the court find differently.
More concretely, I wonder, if when the court gets a case where a police officer suspected that a car might contain bomb making material, will the court find differently?
I know I agree with the case decided today. Then I view the potential harm as negligible. In my hypothetical, the harm is potentially much greater. But then again the behavior of police now, and maybe that is just human nature, makes me unsure how I would want the court to decide.
think that this is the first time I’ve disagreed with Justice Thomas.
Wow, I can’t believe the SC sided against the cops and a further erosion of 4th amendment protections. I’m speechless.