Bennie Dean Herring v. United States

Decided January 14, 2009. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 07-513 · 555 U.S. 135 (2009) · Cited 1,549 times

Holding

When police mistakes leading to an unlawful search are the result of isolated negligence attenuated from the search, rather than systemic error or reckless disregard of constitutional requirements, the exclusionary rule does not apply.

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 5–4.

“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.

• Arizona v. Evans · 514 U.S. 1 (1995)
• United States v. Leon · 468 U.S. 897 (1984)
• Illinois v. Krull · 480 U.S. 340 (1987)
• Franks v. Delaware · 438 U.S. 154 (1978)
• United States v. Calandra · 414 U.S. 338 (1974)
• Mapp v. Ohio · 367 U.S. 643 (1961)
• Hudson v. Michigan · 547 U.S. 586 (2006)
• Massachusetts v. Sheppard · 468 U.S. 981 (1984)
• Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States · 251 U.S. 385 (1920)
• Olmstead v. United States · 277 U.S. 438 (1928)
• Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole v. Scott · 524 U.S. 357 (1998)
• Whren v. United States · 517 U.S. 806 (1996)
• Whiteley v. Warden, Wyoming State Penitentiary · 401 U.S. 560 (1971)
• Michigan v. Tucker · 417 U.S. 433 (1974)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Ornelas v. United States · 517 U.S. 690 (1996)
• Brown v. Illinois · 422 U.S. 590 (1975)
• Stone v. Powell · 428 U.S. 465 (1976)
• Elkins v. United States · 364 U.S. 206 (1960)
• Wolf v. Colorado · 338 U.S. 25 (1949)
• United States v. Janis · 428 U.S. 433 (1976)
• United States v. Payner · 447 U.S. 727 (1980)
• United States v. Peltier · 422 U.S. 531 (1975)
• United States v. Havens · 446 U.S. 620 (1980)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Lange v. California · 594 U.S. 295 (2021)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• Collins v. Virginia · 584 U.S. 586 (2018)
• Montejo v. Louisiana · 556 U.S. 778 (2009)
• Jefferson v. Hackney · 406 U.S. 535 (1972)
• Utah v. Strieff · 579 U.S. 232 (2016)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2009). 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).