Whether a police officer violates the Fourth Amendment by prolonging a traffic stop with unrelated investigatory questions

In Rodriguez v. United States , this Court held that a police officer may not exte nd a traffic stop, absent reasonable suspicion, to conduct a dog sniff. 575 U.S. 348, 350 (2015). In reaching this conclusion, the Court explained that a stop becomes unlawful when an of-ficer “‘prolongs’— i.e., adds time to—‘the stop.’” Id. at 357 (quoting Illinois v. Caballes , 543 U.S. 405, 407 (2005)). In the years since Rodriguez , state and federal courts have divided over whether officers may, absent reasonable suspicion, divert from a traffic stop’s mission and ask unrelated investigatory ques-tions that prolong the stop. The question presented is: Whether a police officer violates the Fourth Amendment by prolonging a traffic stop with unre-lated investigatory questions.