Big win at the Minnesota Supreme Court! In State v. Douglas, the supreme court agreed that the good-faith exception does not apply to searches based only on the odor of marijuana

On December 24, 2025, the Minnesota Supreme released its opinion in State v. Douglas and agreed with Anders Erickson’s argument that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule does not apply to a warrantless vehicle search based only on the odor of marijuana. The Court concluded that because no binding Minnesota appellate precedent did not clearly authorize such searches, officers could not reasonably rely on the smell of marijuana alone as a lawful basis for a warrantless search. This means that the remedy for an unconstitutional search based only on the odor of marijuana is to suppress the evidence and to prevent the State from introducing the evidence at trial.