Full Breakdown
Supreme Court Declines to Review Racial-Conscious Reasonable-Person Test in Donte Carter Case
6/23/2026, 1:41:04 AM
Supreme Court Declines to Review Carter Racial-Consideration Case
On June 22, 2026 the Supreme Court denied certiorari in United States v. Donte J. Carter, a Fourth Amendment case from a 2020 Washington, DC police stop. 6-3 denial left D.C. Court of Appeals decision— which incorporated defendant’s race into the “reasonable person” test—intact. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing Constitution is color-blind and race-based standards are unconstitutional.
Legal Background and D.C. Court Ruling
The “reasonable person” test, set in United States v. Mendenhall (1980) and reaffirmed in Florida v. Bostick (1991) and United States v. Drayton (2002), asks whether a person would feel free to leave. D.C. Court of Appeals rejected that standard, holding a “reasonable Black man” may perceive police differently because Black Americans are “disproportionately likely victims of police violence” and receive “the talk” about police.
Key Figures & Statistics
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas authored the dissent; Donte Carter is the Black defendant; the U.S. Department of Justice sought review; Carter’s lawyers defended the race-aware analysis; D.C. Court of Appeals issued original ruling. Stop produced a .40-caliber pistol stolen from an FBI agent’s vehicle, and court noted Black Americans are likely to experience police violence, a factor it deemed relevant to Carter’s sense of freedom.
Official Statements & Criticism
The Justice Department brief contended that the Constitution forbids judicial presumptions about how a particular race thinks. Carter’s lawyers said race can be a permissible factor in the totality-of-circumstances test. The D.C. Court of Appeals said the ruling reflects “the historical features of blue-on-black interaction” shaping Black men’s apprehension toward police. Alito warned that inserting race into the “reasonable person” test creates a “race-based guessing game.” Left-leaning analysts contend Alito and Thomas’s color-blind stance misreads Justice John Marshall Harlan’s Plessy dissent and warn that ignoring systemic bias may “entrench white supremacy.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “It is dangerous to allow an individual to be treated differently based on statistics, studies, or expert testimony that purports to show that members of the racial or ethnic group to which he belongs are more likely to act in a certain way than are members of other groups,” — Justice Samuel Alito, dissent
- “Here, the special treatment helped the individual; in other situations it will not.” — Justice Samuel Alito, dissent
- “The Constitution does not tolerate, much less mandate, judicial presumptions about how people of a particular race think,” — Justice Department lawyers
- “are disproportionately likely to be victims of violence at the hands of police officers, particularly during suspicionless investigatory inquiries like the one here.” — D.C. Court of Appeals
What’s Next
Alito’s dissent suggests the Court may revisit the issue if other jurisdictions adopt race-aware “reasonable person” standards. The D.C. Court of Appeals decision remains binding, and future lower-court cases will likely test the durability of the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene.
