United States v. Hoyt Cupps, Jr.

McCREE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal requires us to decide whether a police officer, who has stopped a motorist on the highway to make a statutory inspection of his operator’s license, may order the motorist to leave his vehicle after a valid license has been produced, in the absence of probable cause to believe that the motorist has committed an offense. We determine that he may not, agreeably with the Fourth Amendment, and therefore do not find it necessary to reach the other issues argued on appeal.

In a jury trial which concluded on September 6, 1973, Cupps was convicted of possessing a…