State v. Scholl’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “An informant’s tip may carry sufficient ‘indicia of reliability’ to justify a [vehicle] stop even though it fails to rise to the level of the probable cause needed for an arrest or search warrant. All that is required is that the stop be not the product of mere whim, caprice, or idle curiosity.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Satter · State v. Sweedland

2. “Courts have come to different conclusions as to the sufficiency of the cause for a vehicle stop based solely upon an informant’s observations of the non-driving behavior of a suspect. In State v. Miller, 510 N.W.2d 638 (N.D.1994), the North Dakota Supreme Court invalidated a traffic stop based upon an informant’s report of a possible drunk driver who could “barely hold his head up” in the drive-up lane of a fast food restaurant. In Stewart v. State, 22 S.W.3d 646 (Tex.App.2000), the Texas Court of Appeals invalidated a stop based upon an informant’s report of an intoxicated driver at a convenience store who fell down twice while getting into his vehicle. However, in State v. Roberts, 293 Mont. 476 , 977 P.2d 974 (1999), the Montana Supreme Court upheld the validity of a stop based upon an informant’s report that two men who had been fighting got into a pickup and that the driver was drunk because he could “barely walk.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Satter

3. “The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Although this protection generally requires probable cause to search, the requisite level of suspicion necessary to effectuate the stop of a vehicle is not equivalent to probable cause necessary for an arrest or a search warrant. All that is required is that the police officer has a reasonable suspicion to stop an automobile. Therefore, the factual basis needed to support a traffic stop is minimal. While the stop may not be the product of mere whim, caprice or idol [sic] curiosity, it is enough that the stop is based upon specific and articulable facts which taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant [the] intrusion.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Satter