State v. Hicks’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Because the exceptions to the warrant requirement “are jealously and carefully drawn,” the State must show that “the exigencies of the situation made the search [or seizure] imperative.” State v. Bartram, 925 S.W.2d 227, 230 (Tenn.1996) (emphasis added and internal quo tations omitted). Therefore, as required in Downey , the State must show that drivers not possessing a license are unable to safely operate motor vehicles on the roads and highways of this state; that an unlicensed driver invariably presents an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to other drivers that is not typically present with licensed drivers; and that the safety threat from unlicensed drivers is of such a magnitude that the problem, coupled with its risk of harm, commands heightened attention. Only when this showing is made may courts find that the State has a sufficiently compelling interest to justify maintaining drivers’ license roadblocks.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Hayes · State v. Levitt

2. “the State may not merely rely upon its general interest in maintaining highway safety to justify suspicionless seizures of its citizens, no matter how “minimal” one may be able to characterize the intrusion. To the extent that the State’s justification for maintaining a roadblock does not reflect a real, compelling interest in curbing a substantial and imminent threat to the safely of motorists on public roads, one may be unable to distinguish this supposed interest in safety from a more general interest in ordinary crime control. However, as the United States Supreme Court has made clear, and as we agree has long been the law in Tennessee, in no case may the State establish a roadblock merely “to detect evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing.” City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 41 , 121 S.Ct. 447 , 148 L.Ed.2d 333 (2000). Instead, “[w]hen law enforcement authorities pursue primarily general crime control purposes at checkpoints ..., stops can only be justified by some quantum of individualized suspicion.” Id. at 47 , 121 S.Ct. 447 . Therefore, ... this Court will not presume the existence of a compelling interest until the State introduces some proof of the need to curb a substantial and imminent threat to the safety of motorists on public roads distinctly resulting from the conduct of unlicensed drivers.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Varner

3. “the most important attribute of a reasonable roadblock is the presence of genuine limitations upon the discretion of the officers in the field. Two facts are critical to finding that the officers’ discretion on the scene was properly limited: (1) the decision to set up the roadblock in the first instance cannot have been made by the officer or officers actually establishing the checkpoint, and (2) the officers on the scene cannot decide for themselves the procedures to be used in operating the roadblock. In all cases, therefore, the State must show that some authority superior to the officers in the field decided to establish the roadblock, particularly as to its time and location, and that the officers adhered to neutral standards previously fixed by administrative decision or regulation. To be clear, these factors are so essential to a reasonable roadblock that the absence of either of them, will necessarily result in the invalidation of the stops.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Hayes