Because in Topeka most everything is political, the Kansas Supreme Court issued an opinion last week that puts it on the side of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—and is probably wondering whether anyone noticed.
That 4th Amendment, you might recall from your high school government class, is the protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. Now, it doesn’t get as many T-shirts printed as the 1st (freedom of expression) or the big-time 2nd Amendment about the right to pack guns, but No. 4 is a relatively popular amendment on a slow day.
Here’s what happened: A couple cops in Emporia on the afternoon of June 22, 2011, went to a house to serve a warrant on someone, and instead found that guy’s friends walking around the side of the house with dogs on leashes. The dogs get loose, and while one cop is talking to the dog guys who had picked up the leashes, the other cop wanders around to the back of the house to see whether the dog owners or anyone else had weapons that they might or might not ambush the cops with.