Steve Benen writes:
When the Supreme Court weighed in on Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo last month, the Republican-appointed justices cleared the way for federal immigration officials to use racial profiling. A concurring opinion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh proved to be especially important.
As the Trump appointee concluded, ICE agents can legally detain someone if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person might be undocumented. Kavanaugh envisioned a real-world model that was efficient and effective.
“[R]easonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status,” the justice wrote. “If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter. … If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.”
In legal circles, this quickly became known as “Kavanaugh stops.”
But how many is “many?” The number may surprise you. Read more at MSNBC’s Maddow Blog.
h/t, FourthAmendment.com