Floating Home or Residential Boat?

Students attending my courses this semester surely remember the floating hotel v. floating train analogy I used during our discussion about divergent lines of precedent. To drive home the point, I then moved on to a real case involving a recreational vehicle (RV) and lines of precedent involving exceptions to the search warrant requirement, one line dealing with cars, the other dealing with homes.

Just this week the U.S. Supreme Court had a similar issue before it involving a house boat. The question was whether the vessel should be considered a residence or a boat. The characterization of the vessel obviously would lead the Court in two different directions (otherwise the case would not have made this far in the system), and it was up to the Court to determine whether this was a boat or a home.

The Washington Post has more on this case.