Must police independently corroborate the reliability of a secondhand anonymous tip before relying on it to stop a person under an exception to the warrant requirement?

QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW | 1. Police officers may stop a person under an exception to the warrant requirement only if they have reasonable suspicion to support an assertion of illegal activity. “[Aln anonymous tip that a person is carrying a gun” is not, “without more, sufficient to justify a police officer’s stop... of that person.” Florida. v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266, 268 (2000). Rather, the reasonable suspicion necessary to perform a warrantless stop requires law enforcement to independently corroborate an anonymous tip, so that it is “reliable in its assertion of illegality, not just in its tendency to identify a determinate person.” Jd. Must police independently corroborate the reliability of a secondhand anonymous tip before relying on it to stop a person under an exception to the warrant requirement? The circuit courts of appeal are split on this issue. 2. Terry v. Ohio permits a police officer to perform a warrantless limited search of a person when the officer “observes unusual conduct which leads him reasonably to conclude” that the person is “armed and presently dangerous.” 392 U.S. 1, 30 (1968). This Court has extended this holding to allow searches of parts of the passenger compartment of an automobile during an automobile stop when a police officer “possesses a reasonable belief... that the suspect is dangerous and the suspect may gain immediate control of weapons.” Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1082, 1049 (1983). Does the alleged possession of a firearm, without any evidence of intent to use the firearm, make the person “presently dangerous” so that a warrantless search of the person’s automobile for weapons is justified? The circuit courts of appeal are split on this issue. INTERESTED PARTIES There are no