Another North Carolina case is headed to the Supreme Court. The latest grant of certiorari is in Heien v. North Carolina, the burned-out brake light case in which the state supreme court ruled that an investigative stop may be based on an officer’s mistake of law, so long as the mistake is reasonable. The decision put North Carolina on the minority end of a split of authority. The question on which certiorari was granted is: Whether a police officer’s mistake of law can provide the individualized suspicion that the Fourth Amendment requires to justify a traffic stop. The order granting certiorari is here. The docket sheet is here. Supreme Court frequent flyer Jeffrey Fisher of Stanford Law will be representing Heien. Thanks to a helpful reader for pointing me to the order. In other news: Speaking of the Supreme Court . . . the Court issued its opinion in Paroline v. United States, the child pornography restitution case. Recall that the defendant in that case was convicted of possessing images of “Amy,” an adult who was raped on camera at age eight, and was ordered to pay restitution of $3.4 million. That was the full amount of her losses – including counseling costs and the like – though the “Amy” pictures are widely distributed and the defendant’s individual contribution to her losses was neither large nor precisely measurable. The Court reversed, finding the amount excessive. It said that the proper amount would not be “severe,” but would be “reasonable” and not [...]
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