State v. Curtis

The majority opinion may be deciding an issue that has not been passed on by the Supreme Court of the United States and which has been the subject of many conflicting decisions by the courts of this country. The word “may” is used since the majority would reverse the lower court, not on the narrow issue of the scope of the search, but on the broad grounds that “[a]n arrest for a minor traffic violation does not justify a routine search of the motorist’s person, either for weapons or contraband, unless the police have probable cause for believing he is armed or dangerous.” Given a similar fact…