Michigan v. Long
- Decided
- July 6, 1983
- Docket
- 82-256
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,763 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- holding that state courts are free and unfettered to interpret their state constitutions however the United States Supreme Court's determinations of federal constitutional questions is controlling — Robinson v. State (2011)
- holding that protective search of passenger compartment was reasonable under the principles articulated in Terry and other decisions of the United States Supreme Court — Commonwealth v. Rosa (1999)
- holding that officer entitled to do a protective sweep of car’s interior in search for weapons where officer has reasonable belief that car’s occupant dangerous — Johnson v. State (2001)
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 O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.
In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 (1968), we upheld the validity of a protective search for weapons in the absence of probable cause to arrest because it is unreasonable to deny a police officer the right “to neutralize the threat of physical harm,” id., at 24, when he possesses an articulable suspicion that an individual is armed and dangerous. We did not, however, expressly address whether such a protective search for weapons could extend to an area beyond the person in the absence of probable cause to arrest. In the present case, respondent David Long was convicted for possession of marihuana found by police in the passenger compartment and trunk of the [*1035] automobile that he was driving. The police searched the passenger compartment because they had reason to believe that the vehicle contained weapons potentially dangerous to the officers. We hold that the protective search of the passenger compartment was reasonable under the principles articulated in Terry and other decisions of this Court. We also examine Long’s argument that the decision below rests upon an adequate and independent state ground, and we decide in favor of our jurisdiction.
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Cite this
Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032 (1983)Read the full opinion
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