Federal Court Rules Police May Not Compel Passenger ID During Traffic Stop

The Ninth Circuit has ruled that the police violated the Fourth Amendment when they asked a passenger to provide identification. The Court found that "a demand for a passenger's identification is not part of the mission of a traffic stop." As the court explained, "The identity of a passenger…will ordinarily have no relation to a driver's safe operation of a vehicle." EPIC filed a "friend of the court" brief in a similar case before the Supreme Court in 2004. In Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District, the Supreme Court narrowly upheld a state identification law for the driver of a vehicle. EPIC argued in Hiibel that "A name is now no longer a simple identifier: it is the key to a vast, cross-referenced system of public and private databases, which lay bare the most intimate features of an individual's life." EPIC also filed amicus brief in Watchtower Bible v. Stratton, concerning the right of anonymity. In that case the Supreme Court ruled that an ordinance requiring door-to-door petitioners to obtain a permit and identify themselves violated the First Amendment.