Ruling on dog sniff for drugs at traffic stop – Fourth Amendment [US SC] News
Ruling on dog sniff for drugs at traffic stop – Fourth Amendment [US SC]

Illinois v. Caballes, Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Stevens, January 24, 2005 [ruling that a driver stopped for speeding and then subjected to a "dog sniff" that revealed the presence of drugs in a particular location of the vehicle could not invoke the Fourth Amendment to suppress the evidence]. Excerpt:

Accordingly, the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog —one that "does not expose noncontraband items that otherwise would remain hidden from public view," Place , 462 U.S., at 707 —during a lawful traffic stop, generally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests. In this case, the dog sniff was performed on the exterior of respondent's car while he was lawfully seized for a traffic violation. Any intrusion on respondent 's privacy expectations does not rise to the level of a constitutionally cognizable infringement.

Read the full text of the opinion here [PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.