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Carroll v. United States - Significance, Warrantless Automobile Searches Valid, What Becomes Of The Fourth And Fifth Amendments?, Impact

court appellants appellee decision

Appellants

George Carroll, John Kiro

Appellee

United States

Appellants' Claim

That since there was no basis for the search of their car, the evidence resulting from the search should have been excluded from trial, their arrest and seizure were unlawful, and the use of the liquor as evidence violated their constitutional rights.

Chief Lawyer for Appellants

Thomas E. Atkinson

Chief Lawyers for Appellee

John G. Sargent, Attorney General; James M. Beck

Justices for the Court

William Howard Taft (writing for the Court), Joseph McKenna, Willis Van Devanter, Louis D. Brandeis, Pierce Butler, Edward Terry Sanford

Justices Dissenting

James Clark McReynolds, George Sutherland

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

2 March 1925

Decision

Upheld the warrantless search of a car, noting that probable cause existed and the mobility of the automobile made it impracticable to get a search warrant.

Related Cases

  • Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616 (1886).
  • Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914).
  • United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1 (1977).

Further Readings

  • FindLaw, Inc. Internet Legal Resources. http://www.findlaw.com
  • Hall, Kermit L., ed. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford Press, 1992.
  • Witt, Elder, ed. The Supreme Court A to Z. CQ's Encyclopedia of American Government. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1993.

Additional Topics

Carroll v. United States - Significance

The ruling in this case created the automobile exception to the general rule that searches require warrants. Evidence from warrantless automobile searches is admissible in court as long as the officer had probable cause to search. In January of 1920 the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors. Congress passed the Volstead …

Carroll v. United States - Warrantless Automobile Searches Valid

Chief Justice Taft, formerly president of the United States, wrote the opinion for the majority in this case. He noted that the Stanley Amendment called for the punishment of any officer who searches a private dwelling without a warrant or who searches any other building or property where the search without a warrant is done maliciously and without probable cause. "In other words, it left the way …

Carroll v. United States - What Becomes Of The Fourth And Fifth Amendments?

Justice McReynolds wrote the dissent. As McReynolds saw the case, George Carroll and John Kiro "while quietly driving an ordinary automobile along a much frequented public road . . . were arrested by federal officers without a warrant and upon mere suspicion--ill-founded, as I think." Justice McReynolds noted that the Volstead Act indicates that probable cause is not always enough to justify a sei…

Carroll v. United States - Impact

The decision in Carroll v. United States was the first time that the Supreme Court recognized the car search exception to the warrant requirement. The Court continued to articulate the position it took with the Carroll case, that privacy interests in a car have constitutional protection, but a car's mobility justifies less broad protection and is thus exempt from traditional warrant requirements. …

Carter v. Carter Coal Co. - Significance, Citing States' Rights, Court Stymies New Deal Legislation, The Bituminous Coal Conservation Act [next] [back] Cantwell v. Connecticut - Significance, Court Develops The "time, Place, And Manner" Rule, "time, Place, And Manner" Rule

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over 1 year ago

Jerome

Can you be subjected to an unreasonable search and seizure being a passenger in a vehicle?