268
Opinion of the Court
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question presented in this case is whether an anonymous tip that a person is carrying a gun is, without more, sufficient to justify a police officer's stop and frisk of that person. We hold that it is not.
I
On October 13, 1995, an anonymous caller reported to the Miami-Dade Police that a young black male standing at a particular bus stop and wearing a plaid shirt was carrying a gun. App. to Pet. for Cert. A-40 to A-41. So far as the record reveals, there is no audio recording of the tip, and nothing is known about the informant. Sometime after the police received the tip—the record does not say how long— two officers were instructed to respond. They arrived at the bus stop about six minutes later and saw three black males "just hanging out [there]." Id., at A-42. One of the three, respondent J. L., was wearing a plaid shirt. Id., at A-41. Apart from the tip, the officers had no reason to suspect any of the three of illegal conduct. The officers did not see a firearm, and J. L. made no threatening or otherwise unusual movements. Id., at A-42 to A-44. One of the officers approached J. L., told him to put his hands up on the bus stop, frisked him, and seized a gun from J. L.'s pocket. The second officer frisked the other two individuals, against whom no allegations had been made, and found nothing.
Pennsylvania, Jose A. Fuentes Agostini of Puerto Rico, Sheldon White-house of Rhode Island, Charles M. Condon of South Carolina, Paul G. Summers of Tennessee, John Cornyn of Texas, Jan Graham of Utah, Christine O. Gregoire of Washington, and Gay Woodhouse of Wyoming.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the Congress of Racial Equality, Inc., by Stefan B. Tahmassebi; for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. by James J. Tomkovicz and Barbara E. Bergman; for the National Rifle Association of America et al. by Robert Dowlut and David B. Kopel; and for the Rutherford Institute by John W. Whitehead and Steven H. Aden.
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