Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-556_e1pf.pdf
Page Number: 14.0

2 

KANSAS v. GLOVER 

KAGAN, J., concurring 

holding as much.  Crucially for me, Mehrer knew yet one
more thing about the vehicle’s registered owner, and it re-
lated  to  his  proclivity  for  breaking  driving  laws.    As  the 
Court recounts, Mehrer learned from a state database that 
Charles Glover, the truck’s owner, had had his license re-
voked under Kansas law.  See ante, at 2.  And Kansas al-
most never revokes a license except for serious or repeated
driving offenses.  See Kan. Stat. Ann. §8–254 (2001); ante, 
at 5.  Crimes like vehicular homicide and manslaughter, or 
vehicular flight from a police officer, provoke a license rev-
ocation; so too do multiple convictions for moving traffic vi-
olations within a short time.  See ante, at 5.  In other words, 
a person with a revoked license has already shown a will-
ingness to flout driving restrictions.  That fact, as the Court 
states, provides a “reason[ ] to infer” that such a person will 
drive without a license—at least often enough to warrant
an investigatory stop.  Ibid.  And there is nothing else here
to call that inference into question.  That is because the par-
ties’ unusually austere stipulation confined the case to the
facts stated above—i.e., that Mehrer stopped Glover’s truck
because he knew that Kansas had revoked Glover’s license. 
But  as  already  suggested,  I  would  find  this  a  different
case if Kansas had barred Glover from driving on a ground 
that provided no similar evidence of his penchant for ignor-
ing driving laws.  Consider, for example, if Kansas had sus-
pended  rather  than  revoked  Glover’s  license.   Along  with
many  other  States,  Kansas  suspends  licenses  for  matters
having nothing to do with road safety, such as failing to pay 
parking tickets, court fees, or child support.  See Kan. Stat. 
Ann.  §8–2110(b)  (2018  Cum.  Supp.);  see  also,  e.g.,  N. J. 
Stat. Ann. §39:4–139.10 (West Supp. 2019); Ark. Code Ann.
§9–14–239  (Supp.  2019).    Indeed,  several  studies  have 
found that most license suspensions do not relate to driving 
at all; what they most relate to is being poor.  See Brief for 
Fines and Fees Justice Center et al. as Amici Curiae 7.  So 
the good reason the Court gives for thinking that someone