Deprogramming Bias: Expanding the Exclusionary Rule to Pretextual Traffic Stop Using Data from Autonomous Vehicle and Drive-Assistance Technology

Abstract

As autonomous vehicles become more commonplace and roads become safer, this new technology provides an opportunity for courts to reconsider the constitutional rationale of modern search and seizure law. The Supreme Court should allow drivers to use evidence of police officer conduct relative to their vehicle’s technological capabilities to argue that a traffic stop was pretextual, meaning they were stopped for reasons other than their supposed violation. Additionally, the Court should expand the exclusionary rule to forbid the use of evidence extracted after a pretextual stop. The Court should retain some exceptions to the expanded exclusionary rule, such as when there is a major public safety concern. In the semi-autonomous world, the Court has the opportunity to adopt a more expansive vision of Fourth Amendment protections and, in doing so, help remedy the issue of racial profiling in traffic stops.