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U.S. Supreme Court to Judge Drug-Sniffing K9s

Does the Fourth Amendment Protect Us From Dogs Without Warrants?

There must have been a point in my life when I thought, “Dogs can sniff out drugs? No way.” Some distant point in my youth I no longer recall. Seems a socially accepted truth these days. So it may surprise some that the question, in part, is now before the U.S. Supreme Court — casting doubt on the training of the dogs and how well they do their jobs, and whether the Fourth Amendment, the one that protects us from unreasonable search and seizure, should be able to stop them from doing their jobs at all. “Dogs make mistakes. Dogs err,” lawyer Glen P. Gifford told the justices during argument in October. “Dogs get excited and will alert to things like tennis balls in trunks or animals, that sort of thing.” However, Justice Department lawyer …

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