Commonwealth v. Buckley

BUDD, J. (concurring).

I join the opinion of the court because I agree that it is unworkable to strike down the authorization rule articulated in Commonwealth v. Santana, 420 Mass. 205, 649 N.E.2d 717 (1995). However, I write separately because, although-as the court points out-the driver here was not stopped for "driving while black," it is important to highlight how pretextual stops disproportionately affect people of color, and to explore what can be done to mitigate the harm caused by this practice.

Years of data bear out what many have long known from experience: police stop drivers of…