Air Pollution Variance Board of Colorado v. Western Alfalfa Corp.
Decided May 20, 1974. William Orville Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 73-690 · 416 U.S. 861 (1974) · Cited 192 times
Holding
The Fourth Amendment, made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth, does not extend to sights seen in 'the open fields,' Hester v.
The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.
How the Justices voted
Decided 9–0.
Majority · 9
“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.
Precedents cited
Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.
- Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
- Hester v. United States · 265 U.S. 57 (1924)
- Mapp v. Ohio · 367 U.S. 643 (1961)
- See v. City of Seattle · 387 U.S. 541 (1967)
- Minnesota v. National Tea Co. · 309 U.S. 551 (1940)
- California v. Krivda · 409 U.S. 33 (1972)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Oliver v. United States · 466 U.S. 170 (1984)
- Kyllo v. United States · 533 U.S. 27 (2001)
- Rakas v. Illinois · 439 U.S. 128 (1978)
- Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. · 436 U.S. 307 (1978)
- United States v. Dunn · 480 U.S. 294 (1987)
- South Dakota v. Neville · 459 U.S. 553 (1983)
- Dolan v. City of Tigard · 512 U.S. 374 (1994)
- Cardwell v. Lewis · 417 U.S. 583 (1974)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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William Orville Douglas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1974). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).