Florida v. Bostick
- Decided
- June 20, 1991
- Docket
- 89-1717
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 4,435 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- holding that po lice officers’ search of a bus passenger’s luggage can be based on consent — Arizona v. Johnson (2009)
- holding that a voluntary encounter between a citizen and police “will not trigger Fourth Amendment scrutiny unless it loses its consensual nature” — Olson v. Carmack (2016)
- holding that the practice of seeking bus passengers’ consent to search is not inherently coercive — State of Maine v. Richard K. Ntim Jr. (2013)
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
[*431] Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.
We have held that the Fourth Amendment permits police officers to approach individuals at random in airport lobbies and other public places to ask them questions and to request consent to search their luggage, so long as a reasonable person would understand that he or she could refuse to cooperate. This case requires us to determine whether the same rule applies to police encounters that take place on a bus.
I
Cite this
Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429 (1991)Read the full opinion
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