context: [S]o long as police do no more than they are objectively authorized and legally permitted to do, their motives in doing so are irrelevant and hence not subject to inquiry.") (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, because a traffic violation provides an objective basis for the initial stop of an automobile, the subjective motivations of the police in making a stop do not affect the constitutional analysis.
citation_a.signal: see also
citation_a.identifier: 127 Fed.Appx. 712, 715
citation_a.parenthetical: indicating that an officer's subjective motivations for stopping a car are irrelevant when "there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a traffic violation"
citation_a.sentence: See al-Kidd, 131 S.Ct. at 2082 (“Our unanimous opinion [in Whren, 517 U.S. at 810, 813,116 S.Ct. 1769] held that we would not look behind an objectively reasonable traffic stop to determine whether racial profiling or a desire to investigate other potential crimes was the real motive.”); Whren, 517 U.S. at 812, 116 S.Ct. 1769 (“Not only have we never held, outside the context of inventory search or administrative inspection ..., that an officer’s motive invalidates objectively justifiable behavior under the Fourth Amendment; but we have repeatedly held and asserted the contrary.”); Scott v. United States, 436 U.S. 128, 138, 98 S.Ct. 1717, 56 L.Ed.2d 168 (1978) (“We have since held that the fact that the officer does not have the state of mind which is hypothecated by the reasons which provide the legal justification for the officer’s action does not invalidate the action taken as long as the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify that action.”); United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 221 n. 1, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973) (stating that a traffic violation arrest would not be unconstitutional if it were “a mere pretext for a narcotics search”); see also United States v. Grier, 127 Fed.Appx. 712, 715 (5th Cir.2005) (indicating that an officer’s subjective motivations for stopping a car are irrelevant when “there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a traffic violation”).
citation_b.signal: see
citation_b.identifier: 436 U.S. 128, 138
citation_b.parenthetical: "We have since held that the fact that the officer does not have the state of mind which is hypothecated by the reasons which provide the legal justification for the officer's action does not invalidate the action taken as long as the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify that action."
citation_b.sentence: See al-Kidd, 131 S.Ct. at 2082 (“Our unanimous opinion [in Whren, 517 U.S. at 810, 813,116 S.Ct. 1769] held that we would not look behind an objectively reasonable traffic stop to determine whether racial profiling or a desire to investigate other potential crimes was the real motive.”); Whren, 517 U.S. at 812, 116 S.Ct. 1769 (“Not only have we never held, outside the context of inventory search or administrative inspection ..., that an officer’s motive invalidates objectively justifiable behavior under the Fourth Amendment; but we have repeatedly held and asserted the contrary.”); Scott v. United States, 436 U.S. 128, 138, 98 S.Ct. 1717, 56 L.Ed.2d 168 (1978) (“We have since held that the fact that the officer does not have the state of mind which is hypothecated by the reasons which provide the legal justification for the officer’s action does not invalidate the action taken as long as the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify that action.”); United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 221 n. 1, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973) (stating that a traffic violation arrest would not be unconstitutional if it were “a mere pretext for a narcotics search”); see also United States v. Grier, 127 Fed.Appx. 712, 715 (5th Cir.2005) (indicating that an officer’s subjective motivations for stopping a car are irrelevant when “there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a traffic violation”).