Whren v. United States - Impact

Whren v. United States is an example of the Court's willingness to allow law enforcement authorities engaged in operations against the trade in illegal drugs great latitude under the Fourth Amendment. The ruling allowed evidence of other crimes found in plain view and seized by police officers during routine traffic stops to be used in court. Despite the apparent permissiveness of the decision toward law enforcement officers the Court was quite sensitive to the possibility of selective enforcement of the law based on race, and suggested the slightly more rigorous standard for determining the reasonableness of traffic stops discussed previously.