Supreme Court Revisits Interplay Between First and Fourth Amendments
11/29/18
By: Wes Jackson Imagine you commit a minor crime and an officer approaches you. The interaction goes south when you call the officer a “pig” and remind him that your tax dollars pay his salary. He then arrests you. Were your constitutional rights violated? That’s the question the Supreme Court considered Monday, November 26, 2018…
Supreme Court Snuffs Warrantless Sniffs at the Stoop
4/9/13
By: Brian Dempsey In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court recently decided that a narcotics detection canine’s sniff at the front door of a suspected marijuana grow house is a search requiring probable cause and a warrant. (Florida v. Jardines, Docket No. 11-564 (March 26, 2013)). For the majority, this case turned on the fact that the…
Supreme Court Update: Drug Dog’s Sniff is “Up to Snuff”
2/21/13
By: Brian Dempsey In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court concluded that an “alert” by a well-trained narcotics detection dog establishes probable cause for the search of a vehicle’s interior for further evidence of illegal drugs. Florida v. Harris, Docket No. 11-817 (Feb. 19, 2013). Emphasizing that probable cause is a practical, commonsense standard, the…