State Responses to the <i>Whren</i> Decision

In Part I, this Article briefly discusses the Whren decision. Part II discusses the three states that have considered whether to divert from the Whren decision under their own state constitutions. This Article then concludes that while these states have made efforts to combat traffic stops initiated on unconstitutional grounds, such as racial profiling, these state courts are finding it hard to do in the absence of police admission of using a pretext. While this case law suggests that other means of addressing police use of pretext would be more effective than relying on state constitutional law remedies, the Washington mixedmotive test perhaps comes the closest to providing a reviewing court with the means to address whether a police officer has exercised her discretion appropriately.