''Thornton v. United States'', 541 U.S. 615 (2004), was a decision by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, which held that when a police officer makes a lawful custodial arrest of an automobile's occupant, the

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. In addition, it sets requirements for issuing warrants: warrants must be issued by a judge o ...

allows the officer to search the vehicle's passenger compartment as a contemporaneous incident of arrest. ''Thornton'' extended ''

New York v. Belton ''New York v. Belton'', 453 U.S. 454 (1981), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that when a police officer has made a lawful custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, the officer may, as a contemporaneous incid ...

'', ruling that it governs even when an officer does not make contact until the person arrested has left the vehicle. ''Thornton'' also suggests a separate justification for an evidentiary search "when it is reasonable to believe evidence relevant to the crime of arrest might be found in the vehicle." ''Thornton'' and ''Belton'' were distinguished by ''

Arizona v. Gant ''Arizona v. Gant'', 556 U.S. 332 (2009), was a United States Supreme Court decision holding that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law enforcement officers to demonstrate an actual and continuing threat to their safet ...

'', which restricted searches incident to arrest to circumstance where: 1) it is reasonable to believe that the arrested individual might access the vehicle at the time of the search; or 2) it is reasonable to believe that arrested individual's vehicle contains evidence of the offense that led to the arrest; or 3) the officer has probable cause to believe that there may be evidence of a crime concealed within the vehicle. Thus, while ''Arizona v. Gant'' modifies the search incident to arrest doctrine, it also leaves intact certain legal justifications for warrantless searches set forth in '' Chimel v. California'', ''Thornton'', and ''

United States v. Ross United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

''..

References

External links

* United States Supreme Court cases United States Fourth Amendment case law 2004 in United States case law United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court {{SCOTUS-case-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links