Doc Brown … err Bill Blackstone approves
Today’s case, State of Idaho v. Dorff, No. 48119 (Mar. 20, 2023) involves the Fourth Amendment, not the Fifth.
But ever since the U.S. Supreme Court returned to a property-based view of the Search and Seizure clause of the Fourth, property rights mavens’ ears perk up any time a court tries to figure out whether an action by the police violated a suspect’s property rights.
Quick facts: traffic stop after making a turn without signaling. Nero, the officer’s drug dog, lit up after circling the car, and at one point laid its paws on the outside of the vehicle:
The K-9 officer circled Dorff’s vehicle twice with Nero. Nero never entered the interior compartment of the vehicle. However, as Nero circled the vehicle, Nero directed his nose close to the vehicle’s seams (nearly touching the vehicle in many instances); entered the wheel