Police can use drug-sniffing dogs during routine traffic stops, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled, saying such searches were not an unreasonable invasion of privacy.

The Associated Press reported May 19 that the state court, in a 4-3 ruling, backed the state attorney general's call for police to be able to use the dogs even in traffic stops where police have no reason to suspect a car contains drugs.

"A dog sniff will not reveal the contents of diaries or love letters; it will not reveal the individual's choice of reading materials, whether religious, political or pornographic; it will not reveal sexual orientation or marital infidelity," Justice Rita Garman wrote for the majority.

The ruling restores the drug-smuggling conviction of a man found with $250,000 worth of marijuana in his trunk. The man refused a police request to search the car, but police proceeded with the internal search on the basis of a drug dog's reaction during an external search.

Defense attorney Ralph Meczyk called the ruling "truly an erosion of our Fourth Amendment rights" and said that police could use minor traffic infractions as a pretext for drug searches, possibly targeting minorities.