The police pull you over for a traffic stop. Drugs are found in the car. No one claims them. The Supreme Court decided today that the cops can then arrest all occupants of the vehicle.

Some criminal justice experts say the court's ruling, a short, unanimous opinion penned by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, gives the nod to police dragnets that could snare innocent people with the guilty.

"People get into cars all the time and have no idea what the driver or someone else may have put in the vehicle," said Tracey Maclin, a Boston University law professor who wrote a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in the case. "This will apply to people like the coed who's at a party late at night and accepts a ride home from a group of friends. If that car is stopped and police find drugs, 10 out of 10 police officers will now arrest everyone to find out whose they are."

John Wesley Hall of FourthAmendment.com has the details. The case is Maryland v. Pringle and you can read the decision here.