Supreme Court of the United States, 1991

Cummins v. United States

Supreme Court of the United States · Decided November 12, 1991 · White

502 U.S. 962; 112 S. Ct. 428 (United States Reports)

Cases that cite this one

20 later published cases cite this decision.

United States v. Pipes (United States District Court, Nebraska 1995)
Commonwealth v. Buckley (Mass. 2018)
United States v. Sebe T. Woody (7th Cir. 1995)
State v. Daniel (Fla. 1995)
State v. Chapin (Wash. Ct. App. 1994)
Torrey v. City of Tukwila (Wash. Ct. App. 1994)
People v. Marquez (Cal. 1992)
State v. Lopez (Utah Ct. App. 1992)
Commonwealth v. McMullen (Mass. App. Ct. 2018)
Commonwealth v. Holloway (Mass. App. Ct. 2012)
Commonwealth v. Lora (Mass. 2008)
Commonwealth v. Ewing (Mass. App. Ct. 2006)
Commonwealth v. Gentile (Mass. 2002)
Commonwealth v. Santana (Mass. 1995)
United States v. Anthony Bruce Cannon (9th Cir. 1994)
United States v. Pedro A. Ramos (6th Cir. 1994)
United States v. Barber (District Court, W.D. New York 1993)
United States v. Scopo (District Court, E.D. New York 1993)
People v. Miranda (Cal. Ct. App. 1993)
United States v. Thomas (District Court, E.D. Texas 1992)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

C. A. 8th Cir.;

C. A. 7th Cir.; and

C. A. 5th Cir. Certiorari denied. Reported below: No. 90-1628, 920 F. 2d 498; No. 91-5013, 925 F. 2d 1064; No. 91-5087, 931 F. 2d 890.

Dissenting Opinion

Justice White,

dissenting.

In each of these eases, the petitioner has alleged that police used a traffic stop as a pretext for conducting a narcotics search. Gregory Cummins was stopped after he failed to proceed through an intersection when the traffic light turned green. 920 F. 2d 498 (CA8 1990). William Trigg was arrested for driving with a suspended license. 925 F. 2d 1064 (CA7 1991) (case below); United States v. Trigg, 878 F. 2d 1037 (CA7 1989). Mario Enriquez-Nevarez was pulled over after officers observed that his truck had a broken taillight. 931 F. 2d 890 (CA5 1991) (affirmance order). Each search led to the recovery of illegal drugs.

The Courts of Appeals for the Eighth, Seventh, and Fifth Circuits held that, because a reasonable police officer could have made the traffic stops, the evidence produced by the searches was admissible. See also United States v. Causey, 834 F. 2d 1179 (CA5 1987) (en banc). Cf. United States v. Nersesian, 824 F. 2d 1294 (CA2), cert. denied, 484 U. S. 958 (1987); United States v. Hawkins, 811 F. 2d 210 (CA3), cert. denied, 484 U. S. 833 (1987). The petitioners contend that the evidence should have been suppressed because no reasonable police officer would have made such traffic stops, and hence the-''Stops were pretexts to investí-*963gate other crimes for which there were not grounds to stop. See United States v. Guzman, 864 F. 2d 1512 (CA10 1988); United States v. Smith, 799 F. 2d 704 (CA11 1986).

In recent months, this Court has denied review of at least two other cases raising pretextual search claims. See, e. g., Anderson v. Illinois, ante, p. 824; Hope v. United States, 499 U. S. 983 (1991). I would grant certiorari to address this recurring issue and to resolve the split in the Courts of Appeals.

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