Terry v. Ohio Spotlight

Law enforcement’s ability to legally “stop and frisk” a suspect whom an officer reasonably suspects may be armed and dangerous rests upon a legal precedent with deep Cleveland (and CSU |LAW) connections. The facts of the case played out in downtown Cleveland, while the key persons involved have CSU|LAW connections.

Congressman Louis Stokes and prosecutor Reuben M. Payne, who argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, were both 1953 graduates of the law school. Two of the judges who heard the appeal for Cuyahoga County’s Eighth District Court of Appeals, Samuel H. Silbert (Class of 1907) and Joseph A. Artl (Class of 1923), were graduates of Cleveland Law School (Cleveland Law School and John Marshall School of Law merged in 1946 to become Cleveland-Marshall Law School). A third judge, James Joseph Patrick Corrigan, taught at Cleveland-Marshall Law School, as did Judge Silbert.

The CSU College of Law Library has a digital collection of Terry v. Ohio documents, which includes court documents as the case made its way from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas up through the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as related journal articles and newspaper coverage. It is a useful resource for both dedicated researchers and the curious public alike.