Are Pretextual stops by the Police Constitutional?

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This issue involved the case of Whren v. United States in which the issue of Pretextual stops by the police are in violation of the constitution's fourth amendment. The case was spurned when undercover narcotics agents stopped two African American men in their vehicle. The officers did not have the probable cause to stop the men for narcotics but did stop them for violating traffic laws and from that stop, narcotics were discovered.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion that affirmed the trial court and appellate courts decision that the pretextual stop involved in Whren was constitutional. Citing that the officers first must have probable cause or reasonable suspicion in stopping an individual was the main point in the decision. This limitation on the government prevents police from stopping individuals in their vehicles for no reason other than a hunch. With that said, the decision allowed authorities to conduct investigations on suspects that did indeed violate a law. It would be impossible to know that a suspects vehicle contained contraband without first being able to stop the individual.

This issue could not be without controversy if there was not a sizable debate or group opposing the decision. David A Harris, a professor of criminal law and procedure, believes that the Supreme Court overlooked the racial implications. He believes that minorities have and will continually be targets of pretextual stops merely because of their color. He also believes that due to the bumper-to-bumper regulations imposed on motor vehicles, it is next to impossible to not violate the regulations to some extent. That leaves practically everyone in a country that is highly dependent on motor vehicles for transportation.

Personally I accept the Supreme Court's decision that pretextual stops are constitutional. In our modern world, there is a vast array of limits on police powers and the burden of proof is higher now than ever before. I believe the burden of proof is higher because of a constant flow of court decisions and philosophical views on what constitutes a crime. An example is the definition of sex. Prior to the President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, practically everyone knew what sex was but litigation blurred the line of what we know and what is reasonable doubt.

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The Whren case supports my belief that litigation makes it more difficult for police to catch criminals because afterall, the two men did have in their possession crack cocaine. Rather than simply accept that what they were doing was criminal from the beginning, the attorneys tried to attack the stop itself. It wasn't the officers fault the men were engaged in illegal activity but the stop was legal because a traffic law was broken.

Keeping to the subject, our modern world has become plagued by terrorist cells within our own borders. These cells operate with the utmost secrecy and while the promise of freedom brings in immigrants from war torn countries fleeing to make a better life for themselves, it also attracts people who use the protections of the constitution to shield their activities. A federal investigation into a suspected terrorist may require a considerable amount of time before probable cause could even be established but with the ability to use something as simple as a pretextual stop, an investigation could turn into an arrest.

I reject in part the belief of David Harris that most pretextual stops are race driven. As I have learned in other courses, different races tend to congregate into racial neighborhoods such as China Town's or Black Harlem. If a white officer was to stop a so called minority in one of these neighborhoods, which contains a very high number of a specific race like Chinese in China Town, then it would be called a racial stop. The odds that an officer stops a Chinese citizen are astronomically higher than stopping an African American.

In summary, the balancing of constitutionality in this case is well kept because the government must have probable cause or reasonable suspicion and the public must abide by all laws, not only those involving motor vehicles. As pointed out in the book discussion, Americans use more automobiles than any country in Europe. Along with that fact, we are also victims of convenience. We want to go wherever we want, whenever we want and to be stopped is an inconvenience.

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