Rutland — A Vermont judge has rejected a Rutland man’s challenge to the “sniff test,” ruling the smell of marijuana alone does provide probable cause for police to search a vehicle.

“Vermont’s decriminalization statute explicitly states that it leaves unchanged marijuana’s ability to furnish probable cause. The national consensus is that the mere smell of marijuana supports probable cause,” Judge Helen Toor wrote in a recent ruling in a lawsuit in Rutland Superior Court.

“The court must presume that the Legislature knew what the status quo was when deciding to maintain it,” the judge added. “It is beyond the province of this court to challenge that decision.”

The ruling stems from a 2014 lawsuit brought by the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Greg Zullo, of Rutland. The suit alleged a state police trooper improperly impounded and searched Zullo’s vehicle, leaving him in Wallingford, Vt., eight miles from his home. The video of the traffic stop can be seen on YouTube.

Zullo also was left to pay a $150 tow fee after his car was impounded in Wallingford and taken to the state police barracks in Rutland to be searched.

No criminal charges were filed against Zullo.

The judge, in her ruling issued this month, granted summary judgment to the state, tossing out the lawsuit.

“We are evaluating our options at this point,” Lia Ernst, an attorney for the ACLU of Vermont who represented Zullo, said on Thursday. Those options include appealing the decision to the Vermont Supreme Court, she said.

“We’re disappointed in the outcome, of course,” Ernst added. “We think that Mr. Zullo had really strong claims and that he had provided sufficient evidence to support those claims to allow them to go to a jury.”

Assistant Attorney General Eve Jacobs-Carnahan, who represented the state, said on Thursday she was pleased with the judge’s ruling.

“The court ruled in favor of the state because it found that the trooper had probable cause to order the driver out of the car, to seize the car, and to search for marijuana,” Jacobs-Carnahan said.

The ACLU of Vermont also asked the judge to grant summary judgment in favor of its client, which was denied as part of the ruling.

“Both parties submitted motions for summary judgment on very similar fact patterns,” the judge wrote in a footnote to her decision. “There are disputes of fact regarding some details of certain claims. Those facts are not material to the outcome here.”

Zullo’s lawsuit challenged whether police could continue to use a “sniff test” after the state in 2013 decriminalized possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. Possession of that amount carries a civil fine.