Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-9972_p8k0.pdf
Page Number: 1.0

(Slip Opinion) 

OCTOBER  TERM,  2014 

1 

Syllabus 

NOTE:  Where  it  is  feasible,  a  syllabus  (headnote)  will  be  released,  as  is
being  done  in  connection  with  this  case,  at  the  time  the  opinion  is  issued.
The  syllabus  constitutes  no  part  of  the  opinion  of  the  Court  but  has  been
prepared  by  the  Reporter  of  Decisions  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader. 
See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

Syllabus 

RODRIGUEZ v. UNITED STATES 

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR 
THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT 

No. 13–9972.  Argued January 21, 2015—Decided April 21, 2015 

Officer  Struble,  a  K–9  officer,  stopped  petitioner  Rodriguez  for  driving 
on a highway shoulder, a violation of Nebraska law.  After Struble at-
tended to everything relating to the stop, including, inter alia, check-
ing the driver’s licenses of Rodriguez and his passenger and issuing a 
warning for the traffic offense, he asked Rodriguez for permission to
walk  his  dog  around  the  vehicle.    When  Rodriguez  refused,  Struble 
detained  him  until  a  second  officer  arrived.    Struble  then  retrieved 
his dog, who alerted to the presence of drugs in the vehicle.  The en-
suing  search  revealed  methamphetamine.    Seven  or  eight  minutes 
elapsed  from  the  time  Struble  issued  the  written  warning  until  the 
dog alerted.

Rodriguez was indicted on federal drug charges.  He moved to sup-
press the evidence seized from the vehicle on the ground, among oth-
ers,  that  Struble  had  prolonged  the  traffic  stop  without  reasonable
suspicion  in  order  to  conduct  the  dog  sniff.    The  Magistrate  Judge 
recommended denial of the motion.  He found no reasonable suspicion
supporting  detention  once  Struble  issued  the  written  warning.   Un-
der Eighth Circuit precedent, however, he concluded that prolonging 
the  stop  by  “seven  to  eight  minutes”  for  the  dog  sniff  was  only  a  de 
minimis intrusion on Rodriguez’s Fourth Amendment rights and was
for that reason permissible.  The District Court then denied the mo-
tion to suppress.  Rodriguez entered a conditional guilty plea and was
sentenced to five years in prison.  The Eighth Circuit affirmed.  Not-
ing that the seven or eight minute delay was an acceptable “de mini-
mis  intrusion  on  Rodriguez’s  personal  liberty,”  the  court  declined  to 
reach the question whether Struble had reasonable suspicion to con-
tinue Rodriguez’s detention after issuing the written warning. 

Held: