DUI Law bruce on 21 Oct 2009
Justice Roberts Rails Against the Fourth Amendment
Recently Chief Justice Roberts fired off an opinion against most of his fellow Justices for not agreeing to review a case from Virginia regarding a DUI stop from an anonymous caller. The Virginia case was simple; someone called 911 anonymously to report an alleged drunk driver. Officers responded and found a vehicle matching the caller’s description. The officers followed the vehicle and despite no bad driving to substantiate the anonymous call, stopped the vehicle. The Virginia Supreme Court found this to be an unreasonable action in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution but the State asked the United States Supreme Court to review the decision. The majority of Justices declined leading to Justice Roberts’ outburst.
What Roberts does not seem to grasp is that the Supreme Court has routinely held that standing alone an anonymous tip of illegal activity is not sufficient to accost a citizen UNLESS the illegal activity can be confirmed. In Florida v. J.L. the Court stated that a 911 call of an Continue Reading »