Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-9972_p8k0.pdf
Page Number: 23.0

10 

RODRIGUEZ v. UNITED STATES 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

scope of an officer’s activities during a traffic stop justified
by  probable  cause.  In  doing  so,  it  renders  the  difference 
between probable cause and reasonable suspicion virtually 
meaningless  in  this  context.    That  shift  is  supported  nei-
ther  by  the  Fourth  Amendment  nor  by  our  precedents
interpreting  it.  And,  it  results  in  a  constitutional  frame-
work  that  lacks  predictability.    Had  Officer  Struble  ar- 
rested,  handcuffed,  and  taken  Rodriguez  to  the  police 
station  for  his  traffic  violation,  he  would  have  complied 
with the Fourth Amendment.  See Atwater, supra, at 354– 
355.  But  because  he  made  Rodriguez  wait  for  seven  or 
eight  extra  minutes  until  a  dog  arrived,  he  evidently 
committed  a  constitutional  violation.    Such  a  view  of  the 
Fourth Amendment makes little sense. 

III 
Today’s  revision  of  our  Fourth  Amendment  jurispru-
dence  was  also  entirely  unnecessary.    Rodriguez  suffered 
no Fourth Amendment violation here for an entirely inde-
pendent  reason:  Officer  Struble  had  reasonable  suspicion
to  continue  to  hold  him  for  investigative  purposes.    Our 
precedents  make  clear  that  the  Fourth  Amendment  per-
mits  an  officer  to  conduct  an  investigative  traffic  stop 
when that officer has “a particularized and objective basis 
for  suspecting  the  particular  person  stopped  of  criminal 
activity.”  Prado Navarette, 572 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 3) 
(internal quotation marks omitted).  Reasonable suspicion
is  determined  by  looking  at  “the  whole  picture,”  ibid., 
taking  into  account  “the  factual  and  practical  considera-
tions  of  everyday  life  on  which  reasonable  and  prudent 
men, not legal technicians, act,” Ornelas v. United States, 
517  U. S.  690,  695  (1996)  (internal  quotation  marks 
omitted).

Officer  Struble  testified  that  he  first  became suspicious 
that  Rodriguez  was  engaged  in  criminal  activity  for  a 
number  of  reasons.  When  he  approached  the  vehicle,  he