A Kansas man’s claim that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated in a 2016 traffic stop appeared to run into skepticism by members of the nation’s highest court Monday.
Charles Glover Jr. was driving on a suspended license when he was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy in Kansas three years ago. The deputy then charged Mr. Glover with being a habitual traffic offender.
But Mr. Glover says there’s no way the deputy knew that he was the driver when the deputy made the stop.
The state’s top court agreed, ruling the stop to have been illegal.
Kansas officials appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing Monday the deputy had reasonable enough suspicion to believe an offense was being committed based on the common sense that most car owners drive their own vehicles.
“The courts have indicated, as a matter of common sense and ordinary human experience, that the registered owner is likely the driver,” said Toby Crouse, Kansas solicitor general.
But Mr. Glover’s attorney said the officer admitted he did not know who was driving when he stopped the vehicle.
“In an ordinary case, it would be relatively easy for an officer to establish reasonable suspicion that a car is or is not being driven by its unlicensed owner, but the officer and the state have to do at least that minimal amount of work before they can initiate the seizure,” said Sarah Harrington, Mr. Glover’s attorney.
“Here, Kansas didn’t do that work,” she added.
The majority of the justices appeared to disagree, though, suggesting it’s hard to say the deputy was unreasonable in suspecting the driver of a vehicle to be the registered owner.
“You think it’s totally random who the driver is? In other words, it’s registered to Fred Jones, but it could be anybody in the world?” quizzed Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
A decision in the case is expected to be issued before July.
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