New York v. Belton
- Decided
- September 23, 1981
- Docket
- 80-328
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,483 timesDisapproved (verified)Possible negative treatment: disapproved, overruled, abrogated, overruled in part, abrogated on other grounds, overruled on other grounds, superseded (1 of 34 verified; none is a verified overruling) · People v. Branner
What later courts said
- holding that even a search incident to arrest in a vehicle does not itself permit a search of the trunk — Illinois v. Caballes (2005)
- holding that a police officer may conduct a search of the passenger compartment of an automobile incident to arrest — Vafaiyan v. State (2008)
- holding that search incident to arrest may include contents of any container within passenger compartment — United States v. Martin Robert Czeck (1997)
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
Justice Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.
When the occupant of an automobile is subjected to a lawful custodial arrest, does the constitutionally permissible scope of a search incident to his arrest include the passenger compartment of the automobile in which he was riding? That is the question at issue in the present case.
I
Cite this
New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454 (1981)Read the full opinion
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