California v. Charles Steven Acevedo

Decided May 30, 1991. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 89-1690 · 500 U.S. 565 (1991) · Cited 1,409 times

Holding

Police, in a search extending only to a container within an automobile, may search the container without a warrant where they have probable cause to believe that it holds contraband or evidence.

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 6–3.

“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.

• United States v. Ross · 456 U.S. 798 (1982)
• United States v. Chadwick · 433 U.S. 1 (1977)
• Carroll v. United States · 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
• Arkansas v. Sanders · 442 U.S. 753 (1979)
• United States v. Johns · 469 U.S. 478 (1985)
• Chambers v. Maroney · 399 U.S. 42 (1970)
• New York v. Belton · 453 U.S. 454 (1981)
• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• Johnson v. United States · 333 U.S. 10 (1948)
• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• Mincey v. Arizona · 437 U.S. 385 (1978)
• Robbins v. California · 453 U.S. 420 (1981)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Coolidge v. New Hampshire · 403 U.S. 443 (1971)
• Florida v. Royer · 460 U.S. 491 (1983)
• Chimel v. California · 395 U.S. 752 (1969)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Texas v. Brown · 460 U.S. 730 (1983)
• United States v. Di Re · 332 U.S. 581 (1948)
• California v. Carney · 471 U.S. 386 (1985)
• Illinois v. Lafayette · 462 U.S. 640 (1983)
• National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
• Maryland v. Garrison · 480 U.S. 79 (1987)
• O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
• Florida v. Wells · 495 U.S. 1 (1990)
• Ex Parte Jackson · 96 U.S. 727 (1878)
• United States v. Leon · 468 U.S. 897 (1984)
• Michigan v. Long · 463 U.S. 1032 (1983)
• California v. Hodari D. · 499 U.S. 621 (1991)
• United States v. Jacobsen · 466 U.S. 109 (1984)

Cited by

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

• Birchfield v. N. Dakota. William Robert Bernard · 579 U.S. 438 (2016)
• Ornelas v. United States · 517 U.S. 690 (1996)
• Missouri v. McNeely · 569 U.S. 141 (2013)
• Groh v. Ramirez · 540 U.S. 551 (2004)
• Georgia v. Randolph · 547 U.S. 103 (2006)
• Carpenter v. United States · 585 U.S. 296 (2018)
• Wyoming v. Houghton · 526 U.S. 295 (1999)
• Byrd v. United States · 584 U.S. 395 (2018)
• Payne v. Tennessee · 501 U.S. 808 (1991)
• Minnesota v. Dickerson · 508 U.S. 366 (1993)
• Lampf, Pleva, Lipkind, Prupis & Petigrow v. Gilbertson · 501 U.S. 350 (1991)
• Muscarello v. United States · 524 U.S. 125 (1998)
• Nevada v. Hicks · 533 U.S. 353 (2001)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Harry Andrew Blackmun’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1991). 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).