Summary
U. S. Supreme Court decision upholding the authority of a police officer to pat down a suspicious passenger for weapons during a traffic stop. The search occurred after Tucson police pulled over an uninsured vehicle in a neighborhood frequented by drug gangs. One officer noticed that the backseat passenger was dressed head to toe in local gang colors and had a police scanner sticking out of his pocket. After he told the officer he was recently released from prison, she asked him to step out of the car and frisked him for weapons. The search uncovered a handgun and drugs. Following his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm and drugs, the defendant won an appeals court ruling that the search was unlawful, because, as the passenger, he was not the subject of the traffic stop. When the U. S. Supreme Court agreed to consider Arizona’s appeal, CJLF joined the case to argue that the appeals court had misinterpreted precedent, which gives police officers the authority to pat down a person confronted in the line of duty if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person might be armed. The Foundation pointed out that an ex-con wearing the colors of a local drug gang, with a police scanner, meets this criterion. The Supreme Court unanimously agreed.[CJLF brief in PDF.]
