Supreme Court sides with Kansas cops in revoked driver’s license case

The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Kansas cops in a traffic stop case, reversing a unanimous decision by the Kansas Supreme Court that a sheriff’s deputy’s actions were unconstitutional.

The question was whether it is reasonable for a law enforcement officer to assume that the registered owner of a vehicle is also its driver, giving them enough suspicion to pull over a vehicle when they know its owner’s driver’s license has been revoked.

The country’s high court ruled 8-1 on Monday that it is in fact reasonable and that a traffic stop under those circumstances does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, whose office successfully argued the case last fall, announced the decision in a news release.

“The inference that the driver of a car is its registered owner does not require any specialized training; rather, it is a reasonable inference made by ordinary people on a daily basis,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority.

The case stemmed from a Douglas County traffic stop by sheriff’s Deputy Mark Mehrer near Lawrence on April 28, 2016. Mehrer was on patrol when he saw a pickup truck and ran its license plate through a state database. Charles Glover Jr. was the registered owner, and his Kansas driver’s license had been revoked.

Mehrer did not observe any traffic violations and did not attempt to identify the driver of the truck before a traffic stop. He pulled over the vehicle for an investigative stop based solely on the information that its owner’s driver’s license had been revoked.

Glover was, in fact, the driver. He was charged with driving as a habitual violator. He filed a motion to suppress all evidence from the traffic stop, claiming the officer lacked reasonable suspicion.

The district court judge granted the motion to suppress. A state appeals court reversed the district court, and the Kansas Supreme Court unanimously reversed the appellate court, arguing the deputy’s assumption was “only a hunch” and the traffic stop was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court’s reversal now sends the case back to the Kansas Supreme Court to determine whether additional proceedings are necessary.

“Today’s ruling makes clear that the Fourth Amendment does not require the patrol officers who keep our streets and highways safe to suspend their common sense when they put on their uniforms,” Schmidt said in a statement. “As this deputy knew, and as the U.S. Supreme Court today confirmed, it is common sense to suspect the registered owner of a car is the person driving it, and that is sufficient to make a traffic stop to determine whether that reasonable suspicion is in fact correct.”

Kansas Department of Corrections records show that a Charles Glover Jr. has a conviction in Douglas County of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs — third or subsequent conviction.

This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 9:39 PM.