JGalt
Diamond Member
- Mar 9, 2011
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Investigative stop of a vehicle is reasonable if the egistered owner has a revoked drivers license. The opinion written by Clarence Thomas.
8-1 decision. You can guess who the dissenting Justice was.
"The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a Kansas police officer acted lawfully when he stopped a car whose owner’s license was suspended before confirming it was in fact the owner behind the wheel.
In an 8-1 opinion, the justices said the officer’s assumption that the owner was driving was reasonable, given the officer had no reason to think the vehicle was being operated by someone else.
“We hold that when the officer lacks information negating an inference that the owner is the driver of the vehicle, the stop is reasonable,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority in a case that pit road safety against drivers’ privacy rights.
The ruling was a defeat for defendant Charles Glover, who had argued the traffic stop violated the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure, and could encourage similar police stops across the country, even in cases where someone other than the car’s owner is driving."
Supreme Court sides with police in traffic stop case
8-1 decision. You can guess who the dissenting Justice was.
"The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a Kansas police officer acted lawfully when he stopped a car whose owner’s license was suspended before confirming it was in fact the owner behind the wheel.
In an 8-1 opinion, the justices said the officer’s assumption that the owner was driving was reasonable, given the officer had no reason to think the vehicle was being operated by someone else.
“We hold that when the officer lacks information negating an inference that the owner is the driver of the vehicle, the stop is reasonable,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority in a case that pit road safety against drivers’ privacy rights.
The ruling was a defeat for defendant Charles Glover, who had argued the traffic stop violated the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure, and could encourage similar police stops across the country, even in cases where someone other than the car’s owner is driving."
Supreme Court sides with police in traffic stop case