Law Commons^™

Driving Off The Face Of The Fourth Amendment: Weighing Caballes Under The Proposed 'Vehicular Frisk' Standard, Christopher M. Pardo

Bocconi Legal Papers

This paper explores and explains the socioeconomic and racial effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Caballes decision. While society charges law enforcement with eliminating illegal drug activity, the Fourth Amendment rights of every American citizen must also be respected. In Caballes, the Supreme Court held that a dog-sniff does not constitute a Fourth Amendment search, so probable cause is not needed to examine a citizen’s vehicle using a drug dog. While Caballes may be effective in helping police battle a burgeoning drug trade, as it allows police to walk a drug-detection dog around any lawfully stopped vehicle, it also creates …