United States v. Chadwick
- Decided
- June 21, 1977
- Docket
- 75-1721
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 2,561 timesAbrogated (not yet verified)Possible negative treatment: abrogated, abrogated on other grounds, overruled on other grounds, overruled, overruled in part on other grounds, overruled in part (not yet verified) · Pfaendler v. Sahuarita, Town of
What later courts said
- holding that a search more than one hour after arrest and at a police station was not within the exception — United States v. James Kevin Nelson (1996)
- concluding that search of locked trunk ninety minutes after an arrest was too remote in time and place to be incident to the arrest — State of Texas v. Granville, Anthony (2014)
- holding that once federal agents had exclusive control of a footlocker, its warrantless search could not be justified by “any other exigency” — In Re Tiffany O. (2007)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
MR. Chief Justice Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.
We granted certiorari in this case to decide whether a search warrant is required before federal agents may open a locked footlocker which they have lawfully seized at the time of the arrest of its owners, when there is probable cause to believe the footlocker contains contraband.
(1) On May 8, 1973, Amtrak railroad officials in San Diego observed respondents Gregory Machado and Bridget Leary load a brown footlocker onto a train bound for Boston. Their suspicions were aroused when they noticed that the trunk was unusually heavy for its size, and that it was leaking talcum powder, a substance often used to mask the odor of marihuana or hashish. Because Machado matched a profile used to spot drug traffickers, the railroad officials reported these circumstances to federal agents in San Diego, who in turn relayed the information, together with detailed descriptions of Machado and the footlocker, to their counterparts in Boston.
Statutes cited
Cite this
United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1 (1977)Read the full opinion
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