In Lone Dissent, Justice Sotomayor Blasts Majority Opinion: 'No Foundation in Fact or Logic'

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

75. Wrong sir.

First, you do not need to ever have had a license to own a car. You only need the license to drive on a public road. You can insure the car without a license.

Second, if running the plate number doesn't reveal that the car is stolen or that the registration is expired or has been suspended (which would be the case if your insurance lapses) then there is no reason to investigate who owns it or if his brother-in-law is a registered communist.

Charging someone with a crime requires the officer to present to a court a prima facie case that there is a reason to proceed. Arresting someone requires the officer to have reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. A GUESS that someone may be committing a crime doesn't give the officer the authority for investigating, searching, interrogating and detaining them. At least it shouldn't. You're suggesting that observing a car driving on the street which is owned by someone with a suspend license is reasonable suspicion of a crime. I'm maintaining that the investigation leading to the finding that the owner had his license suspended should not be within police authority.

So you think that plate scanners and computer equipped police cars have been around "for decades"?

Consider yourself dismissed.
Have a nice evening.