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Asbury Park Press
The state Supreme Court, in a ruling heralded by civil libertarians as a check on law enforcement power, ruled Monday that police cannot pull over a motorist merely because their license plate bracket or plateholder slightly obscures the vehicle s tag.
The high court said in its unanimous decision that it wasn t enough that the bracket partially obscures information on the tag to warrant a stop. The plateholder has to render the pertinent information a letter, number or state name unrecognizable for such a traffic stop to be lawful.
The ruling limits what civil libertarians have long complained are illegal pretextual stops stops made for negligible or no good reason in order to justify questioning the motorist. Such stops give police the chance to make unrelated inquiries, such as why the motorist is in the neighborhood or if drugs or weapons are in the vehicle.