[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Monday in a case concerning whether a police officer’s “mistake of law” should invalidate the officer’s justification for a traffic stop. Heien v. North Carolina [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] is a state court case that involves the arrest of an automobile passenger for cocaine possession after the driver of the automobile was pulled over for having a broken taillight. The defendant argues that, since North Carolina law [text] only requires vehicles to be equipped “with a stop lamp on the rear of the vehicle” and the vehicle in question had one working taillight, the officer was not entitled to make the traffic stop, hence making his arrest unjustifiable. In granting certiorari, the Supreme Court will determine whether Heien’s Fourth Amendment [text] right, protecting him from unreasonable search and seizure, was violated.

The trial court in North Carolina v. Heien [text, PDF] denied the defendant’s motion to suppress the cocaine, but the North Carolina Court of Appeals [official website] disagreed [opinion, PDF] that all vehicular brake lights must be in working order. In November 2013 Heien petitioned [text, PDF] the Supreme Court for certiorari in this case, which, in turn, was granted [JURIST report] in April.