Adair v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"It is well established, though, that while an arrest may be lawful, the proceeds of an incidental search will be inadmissible if the court finds the arrest was merely a convenient excuse or pretext for conducting the search. [Citations omitted] Few motorists can drive any substantial distance without committing some minor infraction of the traffic codes. [Citation omitted] Therefore, peace officers find the traffic violation the most convenient front since it provides the greatest potential for arrest. Consequently, an officer lacking sufficient cause to arrest one suspected of a criminal offense, or about whom he is merely suspicious, will frequently look to traffic laws as a means of stopping and searching the person and his vehicle for evidence of a more serious offense. In such instances ... the search fails because it is based upon a sham or pretext arrest. [Citations omitted]. ****** If warrantless arrests for traffic offenses are used to search those merely suspected of crime or about whom the officer is merely suspicious, then mockery is made out of the Fourth Amendment and its guarantees. It is our duty to detect and prevent such misuse of the legal processes.””

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