J.L.'s Time Bomb Still Ticking: How Navarette's Narrow Holding Failed to Address Important Issues Regarding Anonymous Tips
![handle is hein.journals/ublr44 and id is 11 raw text is: J.L.'S TIME BOMB STILL TICKING: HOW NA VARETTE'S
NARROW HOLDING FAILED TO ADDRESS IMPORTANT
ISSUES REGARDING ANONYMOUS TIPS
Andrew B. Kartchner*
The conflict is clear and the stakes are high. The effect of
the rule below will be to grant drunk drivers one free
swerve before they can legally be pulled over by police. It
will be difficult for an officer to explain to the family of a
motorist killed by that swerve that the police had a tip that
the driver of the other car was drunk, but that they were
powerless to pull him over, even for a quick check.'
Five years ago, Chief Justice Roberts offered this emotionally
charged rhetoric in dissent from the Supreme Court's refusal to
review a Virginia case involving an anonymous tip of drunk driving.2
The relatively new Chief Justice took issue with the Virginia
Supreme Court's ruling that police must corroborate tips of drunk
driving before initiating traffic stops.' Chief Justice Roberts, pointing
out that the Court has repeatedly emphasized the danger of drunk
driving, urged the Court to resolve this issue, which has deeply
divided the courts.4 Although stopping short of implying how he
would decide the issue, the language in Chief Justice Roberts's
dissent left little doubt that he would favor a rule allowing police to
pull over motorists who had been reported to be driving drunk
without corroborating the tip.5
J.D., magna cum laude, Regent University School of Law; B.A., cum laude, Portland
State University; Law Clerk to the Hon. James A. Teilborg, U.S. District Court for the
District of Arizona. The views expressed in this article are the author's alone. The
author thanks his ever-supportive wife, Holly, for making his academic, intellectual,
and professional endeavors possible.
1. Virginia v. Harris, 558 U.S. 978, 981 (2009), denying cert. to 668 S.E.2d 141 (Va.
2008) (Roberts, C.J., dissenting).
2. Id.
3. See id.
4. Id. at 979.
5. See id at 981 ([T]he police should have every legitimate tool at their disposal for
getting drunk drivers off the road.).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ublr44&div=5&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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J.L.'s Time Bomb Still Ticking: How Navarette's Narrow Holding Failed to Address Important Issues Regarding Anonymous Tips
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