TIGER MANURE???
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| Supreme Court Allows New "Home Exterior" and "Easement" Searches |
| 2005-04-04 |
| The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether police can have drug dogs sniff outside people's homes without any specific suspicion of illegal activity. Justices let stand a lower court ruling that allowed the dog sniff, rejecting an appeal from a Houston man who said it was an improper police "search" that violated his Fourth Amendment right against arbitrary searches. In so doing, the court declined to clarify the scope of police authority after it ruled 6-2 earlier this year that dog sniffs for drugs were OK outside a car if a motorist is lawfully stopped for a traffic violation. Justices David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented in that ruling, cautioning it could lead to much more intrusive searches. David Gregory Smith challenged his Texas conviction for drug possession based on evidence obtained after a police dog sniffed outside his garage and alerted authorities to possible drugs inside. After the dog's alert, police obtained a search warrant and found methamphetamine in his bedroom, far from the garage. "The use of a drug-sniffing dog at the entrance of a private home to detect the contents of the dwelling strips the citizenry of the most basic boundary of personal privacy by gathering invisible information coming from the interior of the home," the petition states. A Texas state court ruled last year that the dog sniff outside his garage was not intrusive enough to invoke constitutional protection. It also said police did not unlawfully trespass because the garage was along a sidewalk that visitors must walk to reach the front door. An "easement" is the path someone needs to take across your property when there is no way around. This decision creates a new authority to search within a "virtual easement", of *any* path that leads to your front door *and* anything that can be easily reached from that path. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #16 Don't know but I wouldn't put it too lightly. Dogs sniff lots of stuff. Basically you open the door to unhindered house searches. The cops say the dog sniffed something and get a warrant. Whatever the dog sniffed (or not sniffed at all) would be irrelevant once police is in your house. Very slippery slope. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-04-04 9:55:11 PM |
| #15 Or understaffing. :) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-04 9:48:32 PM |
| #14 The police here are stretched so thin that they can't even weed out all the stop-sign runners at my kids' bus stops. I'm not expecting a door-to-door search. You'd be amazed at what a government entity will do, and to what lengths they'll go to do it, regardless of budget difficulties. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-04 9:34:48 PM |
| #13 And I need all these fences, gates, moats, and draw bridges for what? There's no meth to be smelled at my door. And if there was some to be smelled next door, then I would hope that the police would find it. You must have more police protection than I do. The police here are stretched so thin that they can't even weed out all the stop-sign runners at my kids' bus stops. I'm not expecting a door-to-door search. |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-04-04 8:03:18 PM |
| #12 and sharks with laser beams in the moat. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-04-04 7:23:53 PM |
| #11 Gabion, Moat, Rampart, Stone Walls, Battlements...Draw Bridge. and no welcome mat. |
| Posted by: Omaviger Crish4799 2005-04-04 7:14:34 PM |
| #10 except that dead bolt on the gate would make un-warranted intrusion trespassing, IMHO, with an intercom or buzzer available |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-04-04 6:50:15 PM |
| #9 Jackal: A "door", legally, is access to a dwelling with walls and a weatherproof ceiling. Property taxes are based on these same factors. So, your "fence door" would be seen, legally, as a "gate" on the fence, with no particular protections. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-04-04 6:30:51 PM |
| #8 Maybe you could put up a "front door" at the end of the path, adjacent to the sidewalk. Put a doorbell next to it. No actual fence or anything, just a door. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-04-04 4:44:01 PM |
| #7 National Lamp shoulda used Toby instead of that dawg, they'd still be circulating. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-04-04 4:42:32 PM |
| #6 TIGER MANURE??? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-04-04 4:15:05 PM |
| #5 A fence doesn't work if it blocks the path to the front door of your house, and that is the key. The Supremes have long recognized an "authority" to approach your front door, but now they recognize an "authority" to search when policeman are on that approach, without a warrant. Even if your fence gate has a "KEEP OUT" sign on it, there are already many occasions, like process service, that authorize somebody to pass through your gate whether you want them to or not, in the furtherance of their activity. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-04-04 3:46:23 PM |
| #4 tiger manure works well ... buy from zoos |
| Posted by: anon 2005-04-04 2:20:33 PM |
| #3 Solution put up a fence. Or, liberal use of dog repellent on the property (as long as the property area isn't measured in acres) should do the trick. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-04 2:13:23 PM |
#2  |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-04-04 2:03:07 PM |
| #1 Solution put up a fence. Try and work that into an "easement" argument. Fences serve the purpose of keeping people out and things in or out, even the police. It's time more people on the right wake up and see the constant attack on our liberties for what they are. The USSP needs to get it's head out of it's colective ass. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-04 1:38:46 PM |