Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/440/648/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 15:47:29+00:00

Document:
1. This Court has jurisdiction in this case even though the Delaware Supreme Court held that the stop at issue not only violated the Federal Constitution but also was impermissible under the Delaware Constitution. That court's opinion shows that, even if the State Constitution would have provided an adequate basis for the judgment below, the court did not intend to rest its decision independently on the State Constitution, its holding instead depending upon its view of the reach of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Pp. 440 U. S. 651-653.
2. Except where there is at least articulable and reasonable suspicion that a motorist is unlicensed or that an automobile is not registered, or that either the vehicle or an occupant is otherwise subject to seizure for violation of law, stopping an automobile and detaining the driver in order to check his driver's license and the registration of the automobile are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Pp. 440 U. S. 653-663.
(a) Stopping an automobile and detaining its occupants constitute a "seizure" within the meaning of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, even though the purpose of the stop is limited and the resulting detention quite brief. The permissibility of a particular law enforcement practice is judged by balancing its intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against its promotion of legitimate governmental interests. Pp. 440 U. S. 653-655.
(b) The State's interest in discretionary spot checks as a means of ensuring the safety of its roadways does not outweigh the resulting intrusion on the privacy and security of the persons detained. Given the physical and psychological intrusion visited upon the occupants of a vehicle by a random stop to check documents, cf. United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U. 3. 873; United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U. S. 543, the marginal contribution to roadway safety possibly resulting from a system of spot checks cannot justify subjecting every occupant of every vehicle on the roads to a seizure at the unbridled discretion of law enforcement officials. Pp. 440 U. S. 655-661.
(c) An individual operating or traveling in an automobile does not lose all reasonable expectation of privacy simply because the automobile and its use are subject to government regulation. People are not shorn of all Fourth Amendment protection when they step from their homes onto the public sidewalk; nor are they shorn of those interests when they step from the sidewalks into their automobiles. Pp. 440 U. S. 662-663.
(d) The holding in this case does not preclude Delaware or other States from developing methods for spot checks that involve less intrusion or that do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion. Questioning of all oncoming traffic at roadblock-type stops is one possible alternative. P. 440 U. S. 663.
WHITE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN, STEWART, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. BLACKMUN, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which POWELL, J., joined, post, p. 440 U. S. 663. REHNQUIST, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 440 U. S. 664.
in the area and wasn't answering any complaints, so I decided to pull them off." App. A9. The trial court granted the motion to suppress, finding the stop and detention to have been wholly capricious, and therefore violative of the Fourth Amendment.
"[t]he issue of the legal validity of systematic, roadblock-type stops of a number of vehicles for license and vehicle registration check is not now before the Court,"
"a random stop of a motorist in the absence of specific articulable facts which justify the stop by indicating a reasonable suspicion that a violation of the law has occurred is constitutionally impermissible and violative of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution."
Id. at 1364. We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict between this decision, which is in accord with decisions in five other jurisdictions, [Footnote 2] and the contrary determination in six jurisdictions [Footnote 3] that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the kind of automobile stop that occurred here. 439 U.S. 816 (1978).
was impermissible under Art. I, § 6, of the Delaware Constitution, it is urged that the judgment below was based on an independent and adequate state ground, and that we therefore have no jurisdiction in this case. Fox Film Corp. v. Muller, 296 U. S. 207, 296 U. S. 210 (1935). At least, it is suggested, the matter is sufficiently uncertain that we should remand for clarification as to the ground upon which the judgment rested. California v. Krivda, 409 U. S. 33, 409 U. S. 35 (1972). Based on our reading of the opinion, however, we are satisfied that, even if the State Constitution would have provided an adequate basis for the judgment, the Delaware Supreme Court did not intend to rest its decision independently on the State Constitution, and that we have jurisdiction of this case.
"at the very least, the [state] court felt compelled by what it understood to be federal constitutional considerations to construe . . . its own law in the manner it did."
Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., 433 U. S. 562, 433 U. S. 568 (1977). Had state law not been mentioned at all, there would be no question about our jurisdiction, even though the State Constitution might have provided an independent and adequate state ground. Ibid. The same result should follow here, where the state constitutional holding depended upon the state court's view of the reach of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. If the state court misapprehended federal law, "[i]t should be freed to decide . . . these suits according to its own local law." Missouri ex rel. Southern R. Co. v. Mayfield, 340 U. S. 1, 340 U. S. 5 (1950).
of individualized suspicion," [Footnote 12] other safeguards are generally relied upon to assure that the individual's reasonable expectation of privacy is not "subject to the discretion of the official in the field," Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. at 387 U. S. 532. See id. at 387 U. S. 534-535; Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., supra at 436 U. S. 320-321; United States v. United States District Court, 407 U. S. 297, 407 U. S. 322-323 (1972) (requiring warrants).
"the importance of the governmental interest at stake, the minimal intrusion of a brief stop, and the absence of practical alternatives for policing the border,"
aware of specific articulable facts, together with rational inferences from those facts, that reasonably warrant suspicion that the vehicles contain aliens who may be illegally in the country."
"the nature of illegal alien traffic and the characteristics of smuggling operations tend to generate articulable grounds for identifying violators,"
"a requirement of reasonable suspicion for stops allows the Government adequate means of guarding the public interest and also protects residents of the border areas from indiscriminate official interference."
"[The] objective intrusion -- the stop itself, the questioning, and the visual inspection -- also existed in roving patrol stops. But we view checkpoint stops in a different light because the subjective intrusion -- the generating of concern or even freight on the part of lawful traveler -- is appreciably less in the case of a checkpoint stop."
Id. at 428 U. S. 558.
guidance in balancing the public interest against the individual's Fourth Amendment interests implicated by the practice of spot checks such as occurred in this case. We cannot agree that stopping or detaining a vehicle on an ordinary city street is less intrusive than a roving patrol stop on a major highway, and that it bears greater resemblance to a permissible stop and secondary detention at a checkpoint near the border. In this regard, we note that Brignoni-Ponce was not limited to roving patrol stops on limited-access roads, but applied to any roving patrol stop by Border Patrol agents on any type of roadway on less than reasonable suspicion. See 422 U.S. at 422 U. S. 882-883; United States v. Ortiz, 422 U. S. 891, 422 U. S. 894 (1975). We cannot assume that the physical and psychological intrusion visited upon the occupants of a vehicle by a random stop to check documents is of any less moment than that occasioned by a stop by border agents on roving patrol. Both of these stops generally entail law enforcement officers signaling a moving automobile to pull over to the side of the roadway, by means of a possibly unsettling show of authority. Both interfere with freedom of movement, are inconvenient, and consume time. Both may create substantial anxiety. For Fourth Amendment purposes, we also see insufficient resemblance between sporadic and random stops of individual vehicles making their way through city traffic and those stops occasioned by roadblocks where all vehicles are brought to a halt or to a near halt, and all are subjected to a show of the police power of the community.
"At traffic checkpoints, the motorist can see that other vehicles are being stopped, he can see visible signs of the officers' authority, and he is much less likely to be frightened or annoyed by the intrusion."
Id. at 894-895, quoted in United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 428 U. S. 558.
percentage of all drivers on the road who are driving without a license is very small, and that the number of licensed drivers who will be stopped in order to find one unlicensed operator will be large indeed. The contribution to highway safety made by discretionary stops selected from among drivers generally will therefore be marginal, at best. Furthermore, and again absent something more than mere assertion to the contrary, we find it difficult to believe that the unlicensed driver would not be deterred by the possibility of being involved in a traffic violation or having some other experience calling for proof of his entitlement to drive, but that he would be deterred by the possibility that he would be one of those chosen for a spot check. In terms of actually discovering unlicensed drivers or deterring them from driving, the spot check does not appear sufficiently productive to qualify as a reasonable law enforcement practice under the Fourth Amendment.
show that a significant percentage of automobiles from other States do not also require license plates indicating current registration, there is no basis for concluding that stopping even out-of-state cars for document checks substantially promotes the State's interest.
The marginal contribution to roadway safety possibly resulting from a system of spot checks cannot justify subjecting every occupant of every vehicle on the roads to a seizure -- limited in magnitude compared to other intrusions, but nonetheless constitutionally cognizable -- at the unbridled discretion of law enforcement officials. To insist neither upon an appropriate factual basis for suspicion directed at a particular automobile nor upon some other substantial and objective standard or rule to govern the exercise of discretion "would invite intrusions upon constitutionally guaranteed rights based on nothing more substantial than inarticulate hunches. . . ." Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. at 392 U. S. 22. By hypothesis, stopping apparently safe drivers is necessary only because the danger presented by some drivers is not observable at the time of the stop. When there is not probable cause to believe that a driver is violating any one of the multitude of applicable traffic and equipment regulations [Footnote 24] -- or other articulable basis amounting to reasonable suspicion that the driver is unlicensed or his vehicle unregistered -- we cannot conceive of any legitimate basis upon which a patrolman could decide that stopping a particular driver for a spot check would be more productive than stopping any other driver. This kind of standardless and unconstrained discretion is the evil the Court has discerned when, in previous cases, it has insisted that the discretion of the official in the field be circumscribed, at least to some extent. Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U. S. 266, 413 U. S. 270 (1973); Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. at 387 U. S. 532-533.
"if the government intrudes . . . the privacy interest suffers whether the government's motivation is to investigate violations of criminal laws or breaches of other statutory or regulatory standards."
Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. at 436 U. S. 312-313. There are certain "relatively unique circumstances," id. at 436 U. S. 313, in which consent to regulatory restrictions is presumptively concurrent with participation in the regulated enterprise. See United States v. Biswell, 406 U. S. 311 (1972) (federal regulation of firearms); Colonnade Catering Corp. v. United States, 397 U. S. 72 (1970) (federal regulation of liquor). Otherwise, regulatory inspections unaccompanied by any quantum of individualized, articulable suspicion must be undertaken pursuant to previously specified "neutral criteria." Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., supra at 436 U. S. 323.
individual subject to unfettered governmental intrusion every time he entered an automobile, the security guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment would be seriously circumscribed. As Terry v. Ohio, supra, recognized, people are not shorn of all Fourth Amendment protection when they step from their homes onto the public sidewalks. Nor are they shorn of those interests when they step from the sidewalks into their automobiles. See Adams v. Williams, 407 U. S. 143, 407 U. S. 148 (1972).
Accordingly, we hold that, except in those situations in which there is at least articulable and reasonable suspicion that a motorist is unlicensed or that an automobile is not registered, or that either the vehicle or an occupant is otherwise subject to seizure for violation of law, stopping an automobile and detaining the driver in order to check his driver's license and the registration of the automobile are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. This holding does not preclude the State of Delaware or other States from developing methods for spot checks that involve less intrusion or that do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion. [Footnote 26] Questioning of all oncoming traffic at roadblock-type stops is one possible alternative. We hold only that persons in automobiles on public roadways may not, for that reason alone, have their travel and privacy interfered with at the unbridled discretion of police officers. The judgment below is affirmed.
State v. Holmber, 194 Neb. 337, 231 N.W.2d 672 (1975); State v. Allen, 282 N.C. 503, 194 S.E.2d 9 (1973); Palmore v. United States, 290 A.2d 573 (D.C. App. 1972), aff'd on jurisdictional grounds only, 411 U. S. 411 U.S. 389 (1973); Leonard v. State, 496 S.W.2d 576 (Tex.Crim.App. 1973); United States v. Jenkins, 528 F.2d 713 (CA10 1975); Myricks v. United States, 370 F.2d 901 (CA5), cert. dismissed, 386 U.S. 1015 (1967).
"The Delaware Constitution Article I, § 6 is substantially similar to the Fourth Amendment, and a violation of the latter is necessarily a violation of the former."
Moore was decided less than two years after Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643 (1961), applied to the States the limitations previously imposed only on the Federal Government. In setting forth the approach reiterated in the opinion below, Moore noted not only the common purposes and wording of the Fourth Amendment and the state constitutional provision, but also the overriding effect of the former. See 55 Del., at 36263, 187 A.2d at 810-811.
See Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U. S. 307, 436 U. S. 315 (1978); United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U. S. 873, 422 U. S. 878 (1975); Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U. S. 433, 413 U. S. 439 (1973); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, 392 U. S. 21 (1968); Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U. S. 523, 387 U. S. 539 (1967).
See also United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U. S. 543, 428 U. S. 554 (1976); United States v. Ortiz, 422 U. S. 891, 422 U. S. 895 (1975); Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U. S. 266, 413 U. S. 270 (1973); Beck v. Ohio, 379 U. S. 89, 379 U. S. 97 (1964); McDonald v. United States, 335 U. S. 451, 335 U. S. 455-456 (1948).
See, e.g., United States v. Ramsey, 431 U. S. 606, 431 U. S. 616-619 (1977); United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, supra at 428 U. S. 555; cases cited in n 6, supra.
Terry v. Ohio, supra at 392 U. S. 21. See also Scott v. United States, 436 U. S. 128, 436 U. S. 137 (1978); Beck v. Ohio, supra at 379 U. S. 96-97.
See, e.g., United States v. Santana, 427 U. S. 38 (1976); United States v. Watson, 423 U. S. 411 (1976); Ker v. California, 374 U. S. 23 (1963) (warrantless arrests requiring probable cause); United States v. Ortiz, supra; Warden v. Hayden, 387 U. S. 294 (1967); Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132 (1925) (warrantless searches requiring probable cause). See also Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U. S. 103 (1975).
In addition, the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment generally requires that prior to a search a neutral and detached magistrate ascertain that the requisite standard is met, see, e.g., Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U. S. 385 (1978).
United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, supra at 428 U. S. 560.
In addressing the constitutionality of Border Patrol practices, we reserved the question of the permissibility of state and local officials stopping motorists for document questioning in a manner similar to checkpoint detention, see 428 U.S. at 428 U. S. 560 n. 14, or roving patrol operations, see United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. at 422 U. S. 883 n. 8.
See n 17, supra, § 2109 (1974).
Cf. Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U. S. 307 (1978) (warrant required for federal inspection under interstate commerce power of health and safety of workplace); See v. Seattle, 387 U. S. 541 (1967) (warrant required for inspection of warehouse for municipal fire code violations); Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U. S. 523 (1967) (warrant required for inspection of residence for municipal fire code violations).
the unconstrained exercise of discretion." The roadblock stop for all traffic is given as an example. I necessarily assume that the Court's reservation also includes other not purely random stops (such as every 10th car to pass a given point) that equate with, but are less intrusive than, a 100% roadblock stop. And I would not regard the present case as a precedent that throws any constitutional shadow upon the necessarily somewhat individualized and perhaps largely random examinations by game wardens in the performance of their duties. In a situation of that type, it seems to me, the Court's balancing process, and the value factors under consideration, would be quite different.
The Court holds, in successive sentences, that, absent an articulable, reasonable suspicion of unlawful conduct, a motorist may not be subjected to a random license check, but that the States are free to develop "methods for spot checks that . . . do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion," such as "[q]uestioning . . . all oncoming traffic at roadblock-type stops. . . ." Ante at 440 U. S. 663. Because motorists, apparently like sheep, are much less likely to be "frightened" or "annoyed" when stopped en masse, a highway patrolman needs neither probable cause nor articulable suspicion to stop all motorists on a particular thoroughfare, but he cannot without articulable suspicion stop less than all motorists. The Court thus elevates the adage "misery loves company" to a novel role in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. The rule becomes "curiouser and curiouser" as one attempts to follow the Court's explanation for it.
their automobiles. But a random license check of a motorist operating a vehicle on highways owned and maintained by the State is quite different from a random stop designed to uncover violations of laws that have nothing to do with motor vehicles. * No one questions that the State may require the licensing of those who drive on its highways and the registration of vehicles which are driven on those highways. If it may insist on these requirements, it obviously may take steps necessary to enforce compliance. The reasonableness of the enforcement measure chosen by the State is tested by weighing its intrusion on the motorists' Fourth Amendment interests against its promotion of the State's legitimate interests. E.g., United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U. S. 873, 422 U. S. 878 (1975).
"vital interest in ensuring that only those qualified to do so are permitted to operate motor vehicles, that these vehicles are fit for safe operation, and hence that licensing, registration, and vehicle inspection requirements are being observed."
"finding an unlicensed driver among those who commit traffic violations is a much more likely event than finding an unlicensed driver by choosing randomly from the entire universe of drivers,"
On the other side of the balance, the Court advances only the most diaphanous of citizen interests. Indeed, the Court does not say that these interests can never be infringed by the State, just that the State must infringe them en masse, rather than citizen by citizen. To comply with the Fourth Amendment, the State need only subject all citizens to the same "anxiety" and "inconvenien[ce]" to which it now subjects only a few.
For constitutional purposes, the action of an individual law enforcement officer is the action of the State itself, e.g., Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S. 339, 100 U. S. 346-347 (1880), and state acts are accompanied by a presumption of validity until shown otherwise. See, e.g., McDonald v. Board of Election, 394 U. S. 802 (1969). Although a system of discretionary stops could conceivably be abused, the record before us contains no showing that such abuse is probable or even likely. Nor is there evidence in the record that a system of random license checks would fail adequately to further the State's interest in deterring and apprehending violators. Nevertheless, the Court concludes "[o]n the record before us" that the random spot check is not "a sufficiently productive mechanism to justify the intrusion upon Fourth Amendment interests which such stops entail." Ante at 440 U. S. 659. I think that the Court's approach reverses the presumption of constitutionality accorded acts of the States. The burden is not upon the State to demonstrate that its procedures are consistent with the Fourth Amendment, but upon respondent to demonstrate that they are not. "On this record," respondent has failed to make such a demonstration.
Neither the Court's opinion nor the opinion of the Supreme Court of Delaware suggests that the random stop made in this case was carried out in a manner inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Absent an equal protection violation, the fact that random stops may entail "a possibly unsettling show of authority," ante at 440 U. S. 657, and "may create substantial anxiety," ibid., seems an insufficient basis to distinguish for Fourth Amendment purposes between a roadblock stopping all cars and the random stop at issue here. Accordingly, I would reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of Delaware.
"Our decision in this case takes into account the special function of the Border Patrol, the importance of the governmental interests in policing the border area, the character of roving patrol stops, and the availability of alternatives to random stops unsupported by reasonable suspicion. Border Patrol agents have no part in enforcing laws that regulate highway use, and their activities have nothing to do with an inquiry whether motorists and their vehicles are entitled, by virtue of compliance with laws governing highway usage, to be upon the public highways. Our decision thus does not imply that state and local enforcement agencies are without power to conduct such limited stops as are necessary to enforce laws regarding drivers' licenses, vehicle registration, truck weights, and similar matters."

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