The only issue is whether [a reasinable person] would think she was they were attempting to obstruct the agents.
I have now been thinking this through. I have tried to work out what might have been going on in the agents' heads:
Outside a suburban house in Minneapolis, two ICE agents are busy checking passports. They are exceedingly bored.
A1 ‘You see that car over there’
A2 ‘The one in the distance, pipping its horn?’
A1 ‘Yes, the purple one. Is it obstructing us’
A2 ‘No, it’s miles away”
A1 ‘Do you think the driver is attempting to obstruct us’
A2 ‘She’d have to be an idiot to think that. She’s only blocking one lane and the traffic is flowing fine’
A1 ‘Can you think of another reason why she would be parked like that’
A2 ‘Well no, not really’
A1 ‘I studied law decades ago. Could we possibly argue that, because we can’t think of another reason that she might be parked there, she must be attempting to obstruct us’
A2 ‘You mean, even though she isn’t actually obstructing us and only an idiot would think being parked like that could possibly obstruct us.’
A1 ‘Still, I think the law is clear. If we can’t come up with another reason for her to be parked like that, we can only assume that she must be attempting to obstruct us.'
A2 ‘Let’s go and get her then. It will be a lot more fun than checking passports.’
