City of Indianapolis, et al. v. James Edmond et al.

Decided November 28, 2000. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 99-1030 · 531 U.S. 32 (2000) · Cited 1,205 times

Holding

Because the checkpoint program’s primary purpose is indistinguishable from the general interest in crime control, the checkpoints violate the Fourth Amendment.

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. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
• Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz · 496 U.S. 444 (1990)
• Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
• Whren v. United States · 517 U.S. 806 (1996)
• Brown v. Texas · 443 U.S. 47 (1979)
• Bond v. United States · 529 U.S. 334 (2000)
• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• New York v. Burger · 482 U.S. 691 (1987)
• United States v. Brignoni-Ponce · 422 U.S. 873 (1975)
• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• Colorado v. Bertine · 479 U.S. 367 (1987)
• Michigan v. Tyler · 436 U.S. 499 (1978)
• United States v. Montoya De Hernandez · 473 U.S. 531 (1985)
• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Scott v. United States · 436 U.S. 128 (1978)
• Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton · 515 U.S. 646 (1995)
• Almeida-Sanchez v. United States · 413 U.S. 266 (1973)
• Cardwell v. Lewis · 417 U.S. 583 (1974)
• Florida v. Wells · 495 U.S. 1 (1990)
• New York v. Class · 475 U.S. 106 (1986)
• United States v. Ortiz · 422 U.S. 891 (1975)
• Michigan v. Clifford · 464 U.S. 287 (1984)

Cited by

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

• Illinois v. Caballes · 543 U.S. 405 (2005)
• Maryland v. King · 569 U.S. 435 (2013)
• Illinois v. Lidster · 540 U.S. 419 (2004)
• Ferguson v. City of Charleston · 532 U.S. 67 (2001)
• Brigham City v. Stuart · 547 U.S. 398 (2006)
• Rodriguez v. United States · 575 U.S. 348 (2015)
• Samson v. California · 547 U.S. 843 (2006)
• City of L. A. v. Patel · 576 U.S. 409 (2015)
• United States v. Knights · 534 U.S. 112 (2001)
• Utah v. Strieff · 579 U.S. 232 (2016)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2000). 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).