For the second time in as many years, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided a dog-sniffing case.

When Mequon patrol officer John Hoell returned Kenneth House’s driver’s license and issued a warning for driving a car with expired registration, House’s roadside seizure should have stopped right then, according to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in State of Wisconsin v. Kenneth C. House, 2012 AP 2414.

Police engaged in a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when they used a drug-sniffing dog on a homeowner’s porch to investigate the contents of the home, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the police’s use of trained narcotics sniffing dogs at the front door of a suspect’s house is a search under the Fourth Amendment requiring probable cause.