Cite as: 532 U. S. 318 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
the fine-only line? 19 Where conduct could implicate more than one criminal prohibition, which one will the district attorney ultimately decide to charge? 20 And so on.
But Atwater's refinements would not end there. She represents that if the line were drawn at nonjailable traffic offenses, her proposed limitation should be qualified by a proviso authorizing warrantless arrests where "necessary for enforcement of the traffic laws or when [an] offense would otherwise continue and pose a danger to others on the road." Brief for Petitioners 46 (internal quotation marks omitted). (Were the line drawn at misdemeanors generally, a comparable qualification would presumably apply.) The proviso only compounds the difficulties. Would, for instance, either exception apply to speeding? At oral argument, Atwater's counsel said that "it would not be reasonable to arrest a driver for speeding unless the speeding rose to the level of reckless driving." Tr. of Oral Arg. 16. But is it not fair to expect that the chronic speeder will speed again despite a citation in his pocket, and should that not qualify as showing that the "offense would . . . continue" under Atwater's rule? And why, as a constitutional matter, should we assume that only reckless driving will "pose a danger to others on the road" while speeding will not?
19 See, e. g., 21 U. S. C. §§ 844, 844a (possession of "personal use amount" of a controlled substance subject to maximum $10,000 fine; possession of larger amount punishable by one year's imprisonment); Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 481.121(b) (Supp. 2001) (possession of four ounces or less of marijuana a misdemeanor; possession of more than four ounces a felony). See generally National Survey of State Laws 151-188 (3d R. Leiter ed. 1999) (surveying state laws concerning drug possession).
20 For instance, the act of allowing a small child to stand unrestrained in the front seat of a moving vehicle at least arguably constitutes child endangerment, which under Texas law is a state jail felony. Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 22.041(c), (f) (Supp. 2001). Cf. also 21 Am. Jur. 2d, Criminal Law § 28 (1998) ("[S]ome statutory schemes permit courts in their discretion to term certain offenses as felonies or as misdemeanors").
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