Assignment Directions:
Read the following scenario and then answer the scenario question. Then proceed to Kansas v. Glover. Read the facts of the case and answer the Kansas v. Glover question. Identify each question when posting.
Scenario
Assume the following: You are a licensed driver, age 17. You live with your father. His driver's license has been suspended. He hands you the keys to his car and asks you to run an errand. While driving to do that errand you are stopped by the police and subjected to roadside questioning. You have not broken a single law. The only reason why the police stopped you is because they guessed that your father might be driving. (Root, 2019).
Scenario Question
Was the traffic stop lawful? Or did it violate the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures?
Kansas v. Glover
On November 4, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Docket Number 18-556, Kanvas v. Glover. Read the facts of the case and then respond to the question.
Facts of the Case
While on patrol, a Kansas police officer ran a registration check on a pickup truck with a Kansas license plate. Upon running the check, the officer learned that the truck was registered to Charles Glover, Jr., and that his license had been revoked. Acting on suspicion that the owner was unlawfully operating the vehicle (based on the assumption that the registered owner of the truck was also the driver), the officer stopped the truck. The officer confirmed that Glover was the driver and issued him a citation for being a habitual violator of Kansas traffic laws.
Glover moved to suppress all evidence from the stop, arguing that the stop violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. According to Glover, the police officer lacked reasonable suspicion to pull him over. The state argued that a law enforcement officer may infer that the owner of a vehicle is the one driving the vehicle, absent information to the contrary, and the knowledge that the owner has a revoked license combined with that inference gives rise to reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigative stop.
The state trial court concluded that it is not reasonable for an officer to infer that the registered owner of a vehicle is also its driver and granted Glover's motion to suppress. The appellate court reversed, and the Kansas Supreme Court granted review. The supreme court reversed the lower court, holding that the inference impermissibly "stacked" assumptions and would relieve the state of its burden of showing reasonable suspicion for a stop.
Kansas v. Glover Question
For purposes of an investigative stop under the Fourth Amendment, is it reasonable for an officer to suspect that the registered owner of a vehicle is the one driving the vehicle absent any information to the contrary?