Knowles vs. Iowa

[Ron Force <rforce@uidaho.edu>]

A follow-up to previous postings: the Supreme Court unanimously ruled
today that police may not search cars following a routine traffic stop
without consent or probable cause.

"Rehnquist said the search was authorized by state law, but nonetheless
violated the constitutional guarantee under the Fourth Amendment
protecting privacy rights and guarding against unreasonable searches and
seizures of evidence.

Rehnquist said searches have been allowed when a suspect has been
arrested because of concern for officer safety and because of the need
to discover and preserve evidence. These two conditions do not apply to
traffic citations, he said.

"While concern for officer safety ... may justify the 'minimal'
additional intrusion of ordering a driver and passengers out of the car,
it does not by itself justify the often considerably greater intrusions
attending a full ... search," Rehnquist wrote in the six-page opinion.

He said officers have other independent ways to search for weapons and
protect themselves from danger, and concluded that the search was not
justified to get evidence.

"Once Knowles was stopped for speeding and issued a citation, all the
evidence necessary to prosecute that offense had been obtained,"
Rehnquist said.

"No further evidence of excessive speed was going to be found either on
the person of the offender or in the passenger compartment of the car,"
he said.

If a police officer suspects the driver of an undetected crime, the
motorist then should be arrested, Rehnquist said." (Reuters)
***********************************************************************
Ron Force					rforce@uidaho.edu
Dean of Library Services			(208) 885-6534
University of Idaho				Moscow 83844-2350
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