# SCOTUS: skin color is reasonable suspicion **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 8, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854 "2025-09-08T17:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/21 "2025-09-08T21:04:33Z")
well, it certainly doesn’t enable an immigration officer to detain someone solely because “he looked Mexican”, which is what the title of this thread seems to imply ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/22 "2025-09-08T21:05:19Z")
Yes it effectively does ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/23 "2025-09-08T21:08:33Z")
So undocumented white-looking people are safe from deportation? Good to know. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/24 "2025-09-08T21:09:11Z")
> [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](#): > > well, it certainly doesn’t enable an immigration officer to detain someone solely because “he looked Mexican”, which is what the title of this thread seems to imply > [@Zoobi](#): > > Yes it effectively does I agree with Zoobi. You look brown so let me make shit up to justify the detainment like when a cop “smells alcohol” and you fail the field sobriety tests with your slurred speech (cop cam conveniently not working). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/25 "2025-09-08T21:10:08Z")
“In this case, however, the District Court enjoined U. S. immigration officers from making investigative stops in the Los Angeles area when the stops are based on the following factors or combination of factors: (i) presence at particular locations such as bus stops, car washes, day laborer pickup sites, agricultural sites, and the like; (ii) the type of work one does; (iii) speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent; and (iv) **apparent race or ethnicity**.” ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/26 "2025-09-08T21:11:44Z")
Or driving a car with other Latinos. Or buying Modelo from the store. Or visiting Home Depot to buy some tools. Or speak Spanish in public. Or have a Spanish last name. Or wear a Dodgers hat. Or eat tacos with friends. Because apparently illegal aliens also do these things. A White person can continue to do these things without it being reasonable cause for detention. The only difference: skin color. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/27 "2025-09-08T21:44:51Z")
> [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](#): > > well, it certainly doesn’t enable an immigration officer to detain someone solely because “he looked Mexican”, which is what the title of this thread seems to imply We actually don’t know what it enables, because despite Kavanaugh’s ass-covering concurrence, none of the the other five justices in the majority explained why they thought that (a) the federal government is likely to prevail in this case or (b) keeping the injunction alive amounted to doing irreparable damage to the government, which are the criteria for issuing a shadow docket ruling like this. Do any of the five other justices agree with ol’ Brett? Who knows? More importantly to the Trump administration, who cares? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/28 "2025-09-08T22:10:18Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > Or driving a car with other Latinos. Or buying Modelo from the store. Or visiting Home Depot to buy some tools. Or speak Spanish in public. Or have a Spanish last name. Or wear a Dodgers hat. Or eat tacos with friends. Hell, I’m sure “looked nervous when confronted” would be enough. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/29 "2025-09-08T22:10:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So undocumented white-looking people are safe from deportation? Good to know. Safe so long as they’re not doing something the Dear Leader doesn’t like, such as peacefully protesting. (The link has a 16-second video of Jackbooted Thug pushing over a guy who’d just been standing there.) > **[Raider (@iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social/post/3lybfg7cvic2b)** > > The Department of Homeland Security cowardly pushed people around at the Portland protest. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/30 "2025-09-08T22:20:17Z")
Or not nervous enough even ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/31 "2025-09-08T22:21:14Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > Or not nervous enough He was _combative_ ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/32 "2025-09-08T22:24:49Z")
In conjunction with other sweeping strategies of this administration (eg, DEI, “Affirmative Action,” trans people), this decision confirms that the only way one can legally use the minority status of another is _against_ them. Lovely. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/33 "2025-09-08T22:38:10Z")
this is fair. We’ll know more when they grant cert. and we get a full opinion. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/34 "2025-09-08T22:52:38Z")
It’s more “you look brown and you’re working on a farm”. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/35 "2025-09-08T22:54:46Z")
Here in LA County, before the first judge’s cease order, we’ve seen ICE in unmarked vehicles storm restaurants without warrants, launch smoke bombs to deter (mainly white) protestors, raid Home Depots lots and no one who looked like a white Italian/German mix like me was taken away at any time in these raids. SCOTUS just gave the green light, with or without details of why. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/36 "2025-09-09T00:14:49Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Hell, I’m sure “looked nervous when confronted” would be enough. Or having Real ID (reported as fake) Or having a US passport (confiscated and lost) Or a birth certificate from the US (doesn’t mean anything anymore) ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/37 "2025-09-09T00:23:05Z")
This dumbass with buyers remorse guy his ID confiscated > **[How a man who voted for President Trump became a plaintiff in a lawsuit over...](https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/trump-voter-immigration-raid-lawsuit-los-angeles/3762698/)** > > The Montebello man says he became disillusioned by the federal government's policies after he was arrested in June by federal agents. ICE can now go tag team, follow up and arrest him for not having his ID. It’s a clever plan, have one team demand proof of citizenship and take it away to “confirm its authenticity” and then have the next team come by in a few hours to haul them in for not being able to provide sufficient documentation. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/38 "2025-09-09T00:26:09Z")
As long as the pressure is there to find bodies to detain and deport abuse is going to be rampant across the system filled with anonymous masked agents. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/39 "2025-09-09T00:30:04Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > His comments have no effect on what this decision actually enables. I do wonder why the other SCOTUS Republicans declined to sign onto what is written as if a majority opinion. Re race/ethnicity, I didn’t find the dissent clearly saying ICE couldn’t consider it as one of the factors in making the decision to ask to see ID, so long as there were additional factors beyond those the government considered in this case. It sounds like if the car wash employees had been seen to get to work in vehicles which were “heavily loaded” or had “an extraordinary number of pas-sengers” that would have been enough to get the dissenter seal of approval. Maybe the dissenters were unhappy to say that but felt they had to due to precedent. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854/40 "2025-09-09T00:41:40Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > > > Nabbing them on the way in appears to be totally legal vote suppression now. > > I have mixed feelings about this post. What you write is a possibility. But it will seem implausible to swing voters, as it does to me. It seems to me that this is absolutely going to happen. The SC have just given the Republicans a perfect road map to an overwhelming mid-term victory. What’s going to stop them? A sense of morality? Knowledge that this is the wrong thing to do? It is to laugh. These “swing voters” won’t know it’s happening until after the election is over. And even then, with control of the media, we may never actually know. The SC have just given the Republicans _carte blanche_ to arrest anyone at anytime solely due to the color of their skin. And you think they won’t use this for political advantage. Come on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scotus-skin-color-is-reasonable-suspicion/1022854.md?page=3)