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December 16, 2014

Supreme Court Lets Cops Stop People Based on Ignorance of Law 
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The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled police officers can conduct illegal
traffic stops based on wrongful interpretations of the law. The case
involved a man who was pulled over in North Carolina for having a broken
tail light, even though a single broken tail light is not a violation in
North Carolina. Police searched the man's car and found cocaine,
resulting in a cocaine-trafficking conviction. In an 8-to-1 decision,
the Supreme Court upheld the conviction, saying the officer's mistake
was "reasonable." In a lone dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "One
wonders how a citizen seeking to be law-abiding and to structure his or
her behavior to avoid these invasive, frightening, and humiliating
encounters could do so."

 

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