This ruling effectively strips away the Fourth Amendment rights of every US citizen. Can you imagine a scorn lover, an envious neighbor or some other person who has some sort of beef with another being able to simply call 911 alleging drunk driving and have law enforcement then stop someone. The Court in Navarette v. California held that the tip alone was sufficient to allow a stop for suspected drunk driving. The court reasoned the anonymous caller's description was essentially credible because a 911 tipster would not have done so with ill-will, that no one would falsely call 911! Are they freaking serious??? Without getting into a Fourth Amendment diatribe the Court here has given law enforcement carte blanche to stop anyone based upon BS 911 calls. Just think of all the hypotheticals you could come up with!
In Washington state however, it will be interesting how this case will be implemented as under Article I Section 7 of the Washington State Constitution citizens are afforded more protection than what is provided under the Fourth Amendment. One such case I can reference is Campbell v. DOL wherein a similar fact pattern was argued and the court held the anonymous tipster's description of a driver (without some law enforcement corroboration of bad driving) was not sufficient to stop someone for alleged drunk driving.
We will see how all of this plays out, but it is a really really bad decision by SCOTUS and I believe anyone with a brain would agree.
_______________________________________________________________________
About the author:
Nathan Webb, is a seasoned Seattle DUI Lawyer. His practice of 10 years emphasizes DUI defense. He has been repeatedly recognized as one of Seattle's Best Attorneys! He was recognized as a Top Seattle DUI Attorneys by Seattle Met Magazine, Repeatedly named a Super Lawyer Rising Star in the area of DUI Defense by Washington Law and Politics Magazine, and is Rated Superb for DUI Defense (perfect 10.0 out of 10.0) by Avvo.com
