Reasonable suspicion is a standard used in criminal procedure to evaluate whether a police officer’s decision to briefly stop an individual, or to conduct a limited search, complies with the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Does a tribal police officer have authority to temporarily stop and search a non-Indian on public rights-of-way within tribal territories based on a potential violation of state or federal law?
This case asks the Supreme Court to rule on whether a tribal police officer has authority to temporarily stop and search a non-Indian on public rights-of-way within Indian jurisdiction based on a potential violation of state or federal law. Petitioner United States argues Indian tribes have broad sovereign authority to protect people and property within its borders, which includes the authority to temporarily stop and search non-Indians in Indian jurisdiction for potential state- or federal-law violations. Respondent Cooley counters that Indian tribes have no such authority because they do not have inherent sovereign authority to conduct this type of stop and search; in addition, neither Congress nor the courts have given tribal officers the authority to do so. The outcome of this case has significant policy implications raising concerns of the proper balance between public safety and individual rights on Indian jurisdiction. The case also implicates the scope of tribal sovereignty and the proper role of Congress and the courts in delineating the extent of tribal authority over non-Indians within tribal territory.
Whether the lower courts erred in suppressing evidence on the theory that a police officer of an Indian tribe lacked authority to temporarily detain and search the respondent, Joshua James Cooley, a non-Indian, on a public right-of-way within a reservation based on a potential violation of state or federal law.
On the morning of February 26, 2016, Officer James Saylor of the Crow Tribe Police Department was driving on a section of U.S. Highway 212 within the boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. United States v.
