Florida v. Royer

Petitioner

State of Florida

Respondent

Mark Royer

Petitioner's Claim

Dade County detectives did not violate Royer's Fourth Amendment rights when they detained him in an airport and opened his luggage to find illegal drugs.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Calvin L. Fox

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Theodore Klein

Justices for the Court

William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White (writing for the Court)

Justices Dissenting

Harry A. Blackmun, Warren E. Burger, Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

23 March 1983

Decision

The detectives violated Royer's Fourth Amendment rights by exceeding the legal limits of the encounter.

Related Cases

• Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).
• United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544 (1980).
• Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429 (1991).
• Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33 (1996).

Further Readings

• Choi, Jin S., and Ernest Kim. "The Constitutional Status of Photo Stops: The Implications of Terry and Its Progeny." Asian Pacific American Law Journal, fall 1994.
• Owens, John B., "Judge Baer and the Politics of the Fourth Amendment: An Alternative to Bad Man Jurisprudence." Stanford Law & Policy Review, winter 1997.