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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 22, 2025

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Yes, although I would avoid that specific language because it's a meme and will trigger some cops into thinking "oh, you're one of those guys." The key is to be calm while doing it instead of being belligerent.

The context of the "Am I being detained?!!@#!" meme is a SCOTUS case which held, laughably, that a person who every regular person would determine was not free to leave was determined based on a reasonable person standard to know they were free to leave. In that case, armed government agents boarded a bus at a scheduled stop and asked passengers questions and then asked one passenger if they could search his bag. They leaned on the fact in Bostick the police informed the person he could refuse the bag search (but not that he were free to leave). Another case followed 10 years later which emphasized the fact that the reasonable person standard is the test and that government agents are not required to inform anyone they can leave or refuse a search. I don't think I've found a single regular, reasonable person in the real world who would have thought they could have told the cops to move out of their way blocking the exit because they knew they were free to leave and like to go. In fact, this is patently ridiculous, but the SCOTUS soldiered forward. So lawyers recommended to people to ask if they were being detained to prevent that sort of silliness. It was picked up and turned into a meme so that anytime some belligerent person was arguing or resisting cops, they would shout "Am I being detained?" at the cops.

There are more cases from the SCOTUS which essentially require formulaic statements or else those pesky constitutional rights aren't so much rights, e.g., requiring affirmative declarations to trigger your right to remain silent or specifically asking for a a lawyer using that specific word. The last few decades of rulings on the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments are largely cases where the SCOTUS has gouged out exceptions to precedent so that police are protected and criminals are not protected.

It's been a long time since I spoke with police in a situation which didn't involve a client and on behalf of a client (and a while since I did that, too), but what I've always told others is to remain calm, tell the cops you understand they're doing a job, but that you do not answer any questions from police without an attorney present, that you do not consent to any searches whatsoever, and that you would like to leave and ask if you are free to go. If they say you cannot leave, tell them you would like to speak to a lawyer and will not answer any questions. Hell, given how bad some SCOTUS decisions in the last 8 years or so, you may even want to specifically say "I'd like to invoke my 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendment rights."

Does this mean you could increase your chance of getting a speeding ticket instead of a warning? Probably.