Answer to Question 1
The U.S. Supreme Court has approved checkpoints or roadblocks to control drunk
driving, to control the flow of illegal aliens, to check for a driver's license and vehicle
registration, and because of a hit-and-run accident, but have disapproved a roadblock
to detect criminal wrongdoing. I agree with the Court's decisions on all of these
types, because the government has a strong interest in keeping our roadways safe, in
protecting our borders, in regulating the use of motor vehicles on the highway, and
that governmental interest outweighs the temporary inconvenience of a roadblock.
Answer to Question 2
A pretext (pretextual) motor vehicle stop is a valid stop that is used as a pretext to
search a vehicle. An example is when plainclothes vice officers patrolling a highdrug-crime area in an unmarked car stop a vehicle because the occupants acted
strangely. The U.S. Supreme Court in the Whren case said the test is whether the
officers could have made a valid stop for a traffic violation, even though that was
not the primary reason for the stop. I agree with that decision because police
officers have the responsibility to enforce all the state and local laws, not just the
laws that relate to their specific assignment.