Justice Jackson Rips Colleagues Over Decision In Routine Police Stop Case

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized the Supreme Court majority on Monday, accusing them of allegedly overstepping the high court’s role in reviewing a lower court decision in a Fourth Amendment case involving whether a police officer had reasonable suspicion to stop a man.

Jackson, appointed by former President Joe Biden, was the only justice to fully defend the ruling by a Washington, D.C. appeals court, which had concluded that the stop was improper. The Supreme Court overturned that decision in a 7–2 ruling, finding the stop was justified. Justice Sonia Sotomayor also disagreed with the majority but notably did not join Jackson’s dissent.

In its opinion, the Court said police may rely on the “totality of the circumstances” when determining reasonable suspicion in the Fourth Amendment case, explaining that individual factors that may appear insignificant on their own can, when combined, justify a stop or arrest.