In giving law enforcement officers the automatic authority to order all occupants from a lawfully stopped vehicle, the Supreme Court concluded that such a slight restraint on an individual's freedom of movement is permissible under the Constitution when balanced against concern for officer safety. The article also discusses prolonged detention or a limited search for the purpose of detecting the presence of weapons, both of which require more justification than the mere occurrence of a lawful traffic stop. While the Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment as allowing officers during a lawful traffic stop to automatically order people out of the vehicle, an officer's actions are not unconstrained. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment safeguards against the use of an impermissible factor, such as race, in deciding when to order occupants to exit a vehicle and the Fourth Amendment requirement that the officer act reasonably during the duration of the seizure continue to protect against unreasonable police conduct. Notes