Florida+v.+J.L.

 code Florida v. J.L.

Florida v JL was a case that changed the laws on what rights police have to stop and search a person. The story behind the case was that in 1995, the Miami police got an anonymous tip that said there was a black man at a bus stop who was wearing plaid, and that he was carrying a gun. The police went there and found him, and then searched him and found a gun. J.L. was then arrested for illegally carrying a firearm. J.L. said that the search was against his 4th amendment rights.

The supreme court voted unanimously that the search was illegal. The anonymous informant was not enough evidence to preform a search without a warrant. The informant was not reliable, as there was no way to check if the informant was telling the truth when making the accusation. The supreme court said that without a moderate level of reliability from the informant, which didn't exist in this case, the police did not have probable cause to search a person. There was no dissenting opinion in this case. code