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If You Were A Justice...If You Were the Justice, What Would You Rule?
The following is a case that could be before the Supreme Court. Using your knowledge of how justices must leave behind their personal bias and judge a case upon the Constitution, this is your chance to become a Supreme Court Justice. Justices consider precedent, or prior cases which have been decided, when making their decisions. If you choose to go against precedent, you must give clear, Constitutional reasons for your decisions. You will want to research previous Supreme Court cases involving search and seizure. To assist you in your research of precedent-setting cases, we suggest using the following websites: http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/ CaseAfter an anonymous caller reported to the Miami-Dade Police that a young black male standing at a particular bus stop and wearing a plaid shirt was carrying a gun, officers went to the bus stop and saw three black males, one of whom, respondent J.L., was wearing a plaid shirt. Apart from the tip, the officers had no reason to suspect any of the three of illegal conduct. The officers did not see a firearm or observe any unusual movements. One of the officers frisked J.L. and seized a gun from his pocket. J.L., who was then almost 16, was charged under state law with carrying a concealed firearm without a licensee and possessing a firearm while under the age of 18. The trial court granted his motion to suppress the gun as the fruit of an unlawful search. The intermediate appellate court reversed, the Supreme Court of Florida quashed that decision and held the search invalid under the Fourth Amendment. The case is now before you at the Supreme Court. You must decide whether or not you will agree with the initial court and the Florida Supreme Court which declared the search a violation of the Fourth Amendment, or with the appellate court, which said it was a Constitutional search. Discuss
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