Supreme Court to Hear Case on Constitutionality of K-9 Sniff

The actions of a Mountain Home, ID, police K-9 at a traffic stop will be the subject of a Supreme Court case this year.

By all accounts, the Belgian Malinois named Nero did his job, sniffing out a pill bottle and a plastic bag that contained meth residue – evidence that ultimately allowed police in Idaho to get a warrant and charge the driver, Kirby Dorff, with felony drug possession, USA Today reports.

But the paws Nero placed on the driver side door as he jumped up to get a better sniff have opened a constitutional question that has now reached the Supreme Court: whether the dog’s mere touching of the car violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on "unreasonable searches."

Idaho's top court concluded in March that Nero's exuberance amounted to a warrantless search, so it tossed Dorff’s conviction.