United States v. Nicholson

What should the court do when an officer detains an individual based on what later turns out to be a mistaken — but rea*1247sonable — belief that the law’s been broken? My colleagues suggest that an investigative detention resting on an officer’s mistake of law always violates the Fourth Amendment — even when the law at issue is deeply ambiguous and the officer’s interpretation entirely reasonable. Having found a Fourth Amendment violation, they proceed to order the suppression of all evidence found during the detention and direct the dismissal of all charges. Respectfully, I have my doubts.

Jesse…