ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, November 19, 1996             TAG: 9611190093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press

COURT DOESN'T ADD CAR-SEARCH CURB

Motorists stopped by police for traffic violations need not be told they are free to go before officers can ask permission to search for drugs, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

In an Ohio case, the court unanimously said the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches does not require such a warning.

It would be ``unrealistic to require police officers to always inform detainees that they are free to go before a consent to search may be deemed voluntary,'' Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote.

The Constitution requires such consent be voluntary, and Rehnquist said ``voluntariness is a question of fact to be determined from all the circumstances.''

All nine justices said the Constitution does not require police to tell motorists they are free to go. Eight justices left unresolved the question of whether the search of Robert Robinette's car was illegal. Rehnquist wrote for himself and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice John Paul Stevens said he believed the search was unlawful.

Robinette's lawyer, James Ruppert, said he was not surprised by the ruling but, ``I think it's going to encourage law enforcement agencies to request searches in almost every traffic stop.'' Ruppert called the decision ``a further chipping away of Fourth Amendment rights.'' He said many people do not realize they can refuse to give police permission to search.

Robinette was stopped for speeding Aug. 3, 1993. A sheriff's deputy warned him about speeding, returned his driver's license and asked if he had any drugs or illegal contraband in his car. Robinette said he did not; then, with Robinette's permission, the deputy searched the car and found a small amount of methamphetamine.

In other action Monday, the justices let Minnesota continue to bar some national charities from annual fund-raising drives among state employees. The court turned down an appeal that argued the state was unlawfully discriminating against out-of-state charities.

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