Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 343

529US1

Unit: $U41

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268

FLORIDA v. J. L.

Opinion of the Court

Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question presented in this case is whether an anony-
mous tip that a person is carrying a gun is, without more,
sufﬁcient to justify a police ofﬁcer’s stop and frisk of that
person. We hold that it is not.

I

On October 13, 1995, an anonymous caller reported to the
Miami-Dade Police that a young black male standing at a
particular bus stop and wearing a plaid shirt was carrying a
gun. App. to Pet. for Cert. A–40 to A–41. So far as the
record reveals, there is no audio recording of the tip, and
nothing is known about the informant. Sometime after the
police received the tip—the record does not say how long—
two ofﬁcers were instructed to respond. They arrived at
the bus stop about six minutes later and saw three black
Id., at A–42. One of the
males “just hanging out [there].”
three, respondent J. L., was wearing a plaid shirt.
Id., at
A–41. Apart from the tip, the ofﬁcers had no reason to sus-
pect any of the three of illegal conduct. The ofﬁcers did not
see a ﬁrearm, and J. L. made no threatening or otherwise
unusual movements.
Id., at A–42 to A–44. One of the of-
ﬁcers approached J. L., told him to put his hands up on the
bus stop, frisked him, and seized a gun from J. L.’s pocket.
The second ofﬁcer frisked the other two individuals, against
whom no allegations had been made, and found nothing.

Pennsylvania, Jose A. Fuentes Agostini of Puerto Rico, Sheldon White-
house of Rhode Island, Charles M. Condon of South Carolina, Paul G.
Summers of Tennessee, John Cornyn of Texas, Jan Graham of Utah,
Christine O. Gregoire of Washington, and Gay Woodhouse of Wyoming.

Briefs of amici curiae urging afﬁrmance were ﬁled for the Congress of
Racial Equality, Inc., by Stefan B. Tahmassebi; for the National Associa-
tion of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. by James J. Tomkovicz and Bar-
bara E. Bergman; for the National Riﬂe Association of America et al. by
Robert Dowlut and David B. Kopel; and for the Rutherford Institute by
John W. Whitehead and Steven H. Aden.