This Week on First Street: Sandy, Sniffs, and Glam Justice

It's been a weird week on First Street: There were postponed arguments thanks to Superstorm Sandy, a Halloween hearing, and a new award for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

If you were affected by the storm, you probably haven't been following the Court this week. Here are a few highlights to bring you up to speed.

1. Dog Sniffs. The Court was not impressed with Gregory Garre's argument that people have no legitimate expectation of privacy regarding contraband in their homes. Based on comments during arguments, it seems likely that the justices will find that a police dog sniff outside a marijuana grower's home violated the Fourth Amendment. The Court was equally skeptical of a Florida Supreme Court finding that the state must provide sufficient evidence of a dog's sniffing success to uphold a sniff-prompted-search, Reuters reports.
2. Gray Matter. The Court seemed to struggle with the issue of whether the first sale doctrine applies to copyrighted works produced outside of the United States, but imported and resold in the U.S., The Associated Press reports. The outcome in this case is anyone's guess. The Court was similarly divided during Thursday's Chaidez v. United States arguments regarding the retroactive application of Padilla v. Kentucky.
3. Grants. The Court granted four more petitions on Monday. The cases are: Trevino v. Thaler, McQuiggin v. Perkins, PPL Corporation v. Commissioner, and Bullock v. BankChampaign.
4. Conference Schedule. The Court has scheduled all of the same-sex marriage cases for consideration at its November 20 Conference, according to SCOTUSblog. That includes eight petitions dealing with the Defense of Marriage Act, one dealing with California Proposition 8, and one dealing with an Arizona law similar to DOMA that restricts marital benefits for state workers to opposite-sex married couples only.
5. Glamour Woman. Glamour magazine named Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg its Lifetime Achievement Award winner because "More than any other person, she can take credit for making the law of this country work for women." Take a second to check out the full list of Glamour Award winners; it's probably the only time that you will see Justice Ginsburg in a group that includes Selena Gomez and J. Crew Creative Director Jenna Lyons.

Court will be back in session on Monday with oral arguments in Comcast v. Behrend and Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans.

Related Resources:

• First Sale Doctrine in Danger? SCOTUS to Review Grey Market Books (FindLaw's Supreme Court Blog)
• Puppies, Privacy, and Probable Cause: SCOTUS Goes to the Dogs (FindLaw's Supreme Court Blog)
• Should Courts Apply Padilla Retroactively? (FindLaw's Supreme Court Blog)