Court DIGs Fourth Amendment Issue
by: Grapkoch • March 28, 2011 • no comments
Tolentino v. New York
This morning, the United States Supreme Court dismissed as improvidently granted the pending petition in Tolentino v. New York. That case was supposed to decide whether, under the Fourth Amendment, pre-existing identity-related governmental documents are subject to the exclusionary rule. The issue arose in the context of a suspicion-less motor vehicle stop whereby the officer learned of petitioner's suspended license, and petitioner sought certiorari on whether the DMV records evidencing that suspension could be excluded based on the unlawful stop. The order dismissing that petition is here.
As is usually the case when the SCOTUS DIGs a case, there is no reasoning for the decision. But, if oral argument was any indication, a few members of the Court had expressed some confusion as to why the petitioner was seeking suppression of the DMV records relating to his identity (and his suspended license) rather than the officer's observations of petitioner driving. In fact, on numerous occasions Justice Scalia rather forcefully suggested that petitioner had come at the case from the wrong angle. Building on those inquiries, the State of New York stressed the fact that petitioner had waived precisely that argument by failing to preserve it at the trial court level and thereafter abandoning it on appeal.
Speculation is always dangerous in a case like this, but if you happen to be somebody pursuing a related claim, I'd make sure you target and preserve your objection to both the DMV records and the officer's observations.
