THE FOURTH Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures can make it more difficult for police to arrest criminals, but it helps protect the innocent from unwarranted harassment by law enforcement officers. Still, determining where the line between reasonable and unreasonable lies is never a simple matter -- and often sharply divides the Supreme Court.
A Fourth Amendment decision this week is notable in part because it comes with a unanimous Supreme Court vote. The ruling hands police a victory by upholding the right of plainclothes officers to stop a vehicle for a minor traffic violation, even if their ulterior motive is to check the car for drugs.
Critics of the ruling say it gives the police reason to make an end run around the Fourth Amendment. Certainly the decision brings no comfort to those who already worry that in attempting to crack down on illegal drugs police stop a disproportionate share of African-American men. But even in light of these racial sensitivities, the court is clearly reluctant to tie the hands of police officers by second-guessing their motives, as long as they can demonstrate a reasonable cause for making a traffic stop.
