Inquiring nostrils want to know

For suspects who weren’t sure, you have no privacy interest in the way you smell.

The Virginia Court of Appeals didn’t have to hold its nose to embrace the “plain smell” doctrine, which gives cops the right to go into your pockets if you smell like marijuana.

“While some have questioned our willingness” to embrace the doctrine, sniffed Judge D. Arthur Kelsey in Bunch v. Commonwealth, it’s clear to the court that an individual “has no privacy interest in his odors. He cannot broadcast an unusual odor” and “reasonably expect” others to take no notice.

“We concur with the accepted view that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy from lawfully positioned agents with inquisitive nostrils,” Kelsey quoted in the court's published opinion April 8.

So be careful who’s standing downwind.