Nino Scalia’s Motel Blues

Lithwick has an entertaining account of Monday’s major 4th Amendment ruling. It’s somewhat unusual for Kennedy, rather than Scalia or Thomas, to be the swing vote in a 4th Amendment case with a positive outcome. But on another level it’s not surprising, since Scalia is most receptive to Fourth Amendment claims that involve individuals and their personal property. Particularly given that the kinds of hotels he would stay at are much less likely to be subject to warrantless searches, his vote was pretty much inevitable. The bigger surprise is Kennedy, whose record in Fourth Amendment cases is pretty lousy.

Friedersdorf’s piece on the case is also good.