Police holding on to your driver’s license can constitute an illegal seizure under the 4th Amendment

For purposes of the Fourth Amendment, a seizure occurs when a law enforcement officer, by means of physical force or show of authority, in some way restrains the liberty of a citizen. Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 434 (1991). A police officer has restrained the liberty of the citizen if, “taking into account all of the circumstances surrounding the encounter, the police conduct would `have communicated to a reasonable person that he was not at liberty to ignore the police presence and go about his business.’” Id. at 437 (quoting California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621, 628 (1991)).

When a law enforcement official retains control of a person’s identification papers, such as vehicle registration documents or a driver’s license, longer than necessary to ascertain that everything is in order, and initiates further inquiry while holding on to the needed papers, a reasonable person would not feel free to depart.

Read full case here: U.S. v. Chan-Jimenez, 125 F.3d 1324, 1326 (9th Cir. 1997), https://casetext.com/case/us-v-chan-jimenez/