On April 20, 2021, the ACLU of Maine, with assistance from Preti Flaherty, submitted a "friend of the court" brief in United States v. Boyd, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. In this case, Ms. Boyd, a Black woman, argues that the Court should suppress evidence and grant other relief arising from an unconstitutional and racially discriminatory stop.
The arresting officer, Maine State Trooper John Darcy, had previously been recorded as saying that someone looks like “a thug” if “he’s wearing a wifebeater, he’s got dreads." In this stop, Ms. Boyd was a passenger, and the driver of the car was a Black man with dreadlocks. In the ACLU of Maine's brief, we argued that racial profiling is unconstitutional, and that police may not target drivers for traffic stops on the basis of their race. We also argued that there was no legitimate basis for the stop, which violated the Fourth Amendment.
