In the case of Florida v. Rodriguez, 1984, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of Florida. The defendant, Rodriguez was stopped at Miami International Airport by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who suspected him of carrying drugs based on his behavior and answers to their questions. After a search with his consent revealed cocaine in his luggage, he was arrested and later convicted for drug possession. He appealed arguing that there were no reasonable grounds for suspicion which would justify stopping him initially; hence it violated Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The court held that the initial stop did not violate any constitutional protections as it wasn't a seizure under Fourth Amendment terms since Rodriguez had been approached in public space where he could have ignored or walked away from officers if he wished to do so without fearing arrest or detention. Furthermore, they noted that subsequent actions leading up to discovery of drugs were consensual encounters rather than forced ones thus didn’t infringe upon his rights either.

In the dissenting opinion for Florida v. Rodriguez, Justice William Brennan disagreed with the majority's view that police officers had reasonable suspicion to stop and frisk a passenger in an airport based on his nervous behavior and evasive answers. He argued that such conduct was not unusual or suspicious enough to justify a search under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Furthermore, he contended that allowing police officers to make stops based on such vague criteria could lead to racial profiling and other forms of discrimination. He also criticized the Court's decision as being inconsistent with previous rulings regarding what constitutes reasonable suspicion.