Court Opinion

ID: 9496693
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:33:00.929414+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:44.394143
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Although one may doubt some of the reasons advanced by the City for the prolonged period of detention here, there is enough evidence to support the majority’s conclusion that the explanation of the detention’s length was reasonable. See County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44, 56-57, 111 S.Ct. 1661, 114 L.Ed.2d 49 (1991) (cautioning reviewing courts to allow “a substantial degree of flexibility” in determining reasonableness because delay caused by administrative tasks is often unavoidable). However, the majority touches upon a question (not raised here by the plaintiffs) that remains something of a mystery since Atwater v. City of Lago Vista had very little to say explicitly about it: to what extent, if any, is the validity of an arrest and detention for a fine-only offense affected by the purpose or motive of the arresting officer? The Atwater court frequently cited Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996), as relevant here, and Whren, of course, established that motive or purpose was not relevant to the validity of a traffic stop. Perhaps, this is a signal that they are equally irrelevant here. In addition, the Atwater court dismissed the need for a case-specific balancing test in determining the reasonableness of an arrest unless it is “conducted in an extraordinary manner, unusually harmful to [his] privacy or even physical interests.” Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, 532 U.S. 318, 353, 121 S.Ct. 1536, 149 L.Ed.2d 549 (2001), quoting Whren, 517 U.S. at 818, 116 S.Ct. 1769.
On the other hand, the majority opinion suggests that “punishing” an individual by arresting and detaining him is not a proper purpose for engaging in those procedures (citing our pre-Atwater decision in Gramenos v. Jewel Companies, Inc., 797 F.2d 432, 436-37 (7th Cir.1986), in which we noted that there was “some evidence that the police held Gramenos out of spite — or perhaps to impose the real punishment for shoplifting”). Yet the entire sequence here involved a scheme to deter repeat offenders for whom the mandated punishment — a citation and a fine — was not sufficient. This could constitute a punishment by ordinary definitions of the term.1 See Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11, 123 S.Ct. 1179, 155 L.Ed.2d 108, 120, 126 (2003) (noting that purposes of criminal punishment are “deterrence, incapacitation, retribution and rehabilitation”).
However, as indicated earlier, this issue has not been raised or litigated (and perhaps, in light of Atwater, it is not an issue), so it does not present a barrier to summary judgment.

. See, e.g., Appellants' Br. at 5, citing Deposition of James Klein at 45 (“Mr. Klein asked the arresting officer what was taking so much lime for his release from confinement, and he was told that if he was smart with the officer, he would be held an additional three hours.”).