This page contains Supreme Court rulings -- with summaries of the majority and minority conclusions.
99-1030
on Oct 3, 2000
Decided Nov 28, 2000
Case Ruling: CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS v. EDMOND
Indianapolis operates vehicle checkpoints on its roads in an effort to interdict unlawful drugs. Mr. Edmond was stopped at such a checkpoint, and filed suit, claiming that the roadblocks violated the Fourth Amendment�s rule that a search or seizure is unreasonable absent individualized suspicion of wrongdoing. Held: (O�Connor, joined by Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, & Stevens)
We previously held that brief, suspicionless seizures at highway checkpoints for the purposes of combating drunk driving and intercepting illegal immigrants were constitutional. We now consider [applying that to] illegal narcotics. Because the checkpoint program�s primary purpose is indistinguishable from the general interest in crime control, the checkpoints violate the Fourth Amendment.Dissent:(Rehnquist, joined by Scalia & Thomas)
The State�s use of a drug-sniffing dog, according to the Court�s holding,
annuls what is otherwise plainly constitutional under our Fourth Amendment jurisprudence: brief, standardized, discretionless, roadblock seizures of automobiles, seizures which effectively serve a weighty state interest with only minimal intrusion on the privacy of their occupants. Because these seizures serve the State�s accepted and significant interests of preventing drunken driving and checking for driver�s licenses and vehicle registrations, and because there is nothing in the record to indicate that the addition of the dog sniff lengthens these otherwise legitimate seizures, I dissent.Additional dissent: (Thomas)
I am not convinced [the original drunk-driving & immigration roadblock cases] were correctly decided. I rather doubt that the Framers would have considered �reasonable� a program of indiscriminate stops of individuals not suspected of wrongdoing. But Mr. Edmond did not advocate the overruling [of the original cases, so I join in the dissent].
Participating counts on VoteMatch question 19.
Question 19: Marijuana is a gateway drug
Scores: -2=Strongly oppose; -1=Oppose; 0=neutral; 1=Support; 2=Strongly support.
- Topic: Drugs
- Headline: No roadblocks with drug-sniffing dogs
(Score: -1)
- Headline 2: Roadblocks with drug-sniffing dogs are OK
(Score: 2)
- Headline 3: Treat drug roadblocks the same as drunk-driving roadblocks
(Score: 1)
- Key for participation codes:
- Sponsorships: p=sponsored; o=co-sponsored; s=signed
- Memberships: c=chair; m=member; e=endorsed; f=profiled; s=scored
- Resolutions: i=introduced; w=wrote; a=adopted
- Cases: w=wrote; j=joined; d=dissented; c=concurred
- Surveys: '+' supports; '-' opposes.
Independents
participating in 99-1030 |
Total recorded by OnTheIssues:
Democrats:
2
Republicans:
7
Independents:
0 |
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