Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-9972_p8k0.pdf
Page Number: 16

Cite as:  575 U. S. ____ (2015) 

3 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

cle  containing  multiple  occupants  even  when  no  dog  sniff 
is involved.  See, e.g., United States v. Ellis, 497 F. 3d 606 
(CA6  2007)  (22  minutes);  United  States  v.  Barragan,  379 
F. 3d 524 (CA8 2004) (approximately 30 minutes).  During
that time, Officer Struble conducted the ordinary activities
of  a  traffic  stop—he  approached  the  vehicle,  questioned 
Rodriguez  about  the  observed  violation,  asked  Pollman 
about  their  travel  plans,  ran  serial  warrant  checks  on
Rodriguez  and  Pollman,  and  issued  a  written  warning  to
Rodriguez.  And when he decided to conduct a dog sniff, he
took the precaution of calling for backup out of concern for 
his  safety.  See  741  F. 3d  905,  907  (CA8  2014);  see  also 
Pennsylvania  v.  Mimms,  434  U. S.  106,  110  (1977)  (per 
curiam)  (officer  safety  is  a  “legitimate  and  weighty”  con-
cern relevant to reasonableness).

As  Caballes  makes  clear,  the  fact  that  Officer  Struble 
waited  until  after  he  gave  Rodriguez  the  warning  to  con-
duct  the  dog  sniff  does  not  alter  this  analysis.    Because 
“the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog . . . gen-
erally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests,” 543 
U. S., at 409, “conducting a dog sniff would not change the 
character  of  a  traffic  stop  that  is  lawful  at  its  inception
and  otherwise  executed  in  a  reasonable  manner,”  id.,  at 
408.  The stop here was “lawful at its inception and other-
wise  executed  in  a  reasonable  manner.”    Ibid.  As  in  Ca-
balles, “conducting a dog sniff [did] not change the charac-
ter  of  [the]  traffic  stop,”  ibid.,  and  thus  no  Fourth 
Amendment violation occurred. 

II 

Rather  than  adhere  to  the  reasonableness  requirement 
that  we  have  repeatedly  characterized  as  the  “touchstone 
of  the  Fourth  Amendment,”  Brigham  City,  supra,  at  403, 
the  majority  constructed  a  test  of  its  own  that  is  incon-
sistent with our precedents.