Colorado v. Bertine
Decided January 14, 1987. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 85-889 · 479 U.S. 367 (1987) · Cited 1,722 times
Holding
The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the State from proving the criminal charges with the evidence discovered during the inventory search of respondent's van.
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 7–2.
Majority · 4
- William Hubbs Rehnquist · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Antonin Scalia
- Byron Raymond White
- John Paul Stevens
Concurring · 3
- Harry Andrew Blackmun · filed a concurring opinion
- Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.
- Sandra Day O'Connor
Dissenting · 2
- Thurgood Marshall · filed a dissenting opinion
- William Joseph Brennan Jr.
“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.
- South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
- Illinois v. Lafayette · 462 U.S. 640 (1983)
- Cady v. Dombrowski · 413 U.S. 433 (1973)
- United States v. Chadwick · 433 U.S. 1 (1977)
- Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
- Arkansas v. Sanders · 442 U.S. 753 (1979)
- United States v. Ross · 456 U.S. 798 (1982)
- Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
- Harris v. United States · 390 U.S. 234 (1968)
- Cooper v. California · 386 U.S. 58 (1967)
- Coolidge v. New Hampshire · 403 U.S. 443 (1971)
- United States v. Robinson · 414 U.S. 218 (1973)
- New York v. Belton · 453 U.S. 454 (1981)
- United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
- Almeida-Sanchez v. United States · 413 U.S. 266 (1973)
- California Bankers Assn. v. Shultz · 416 U.S. 21 (1974)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Florida v. Wells · 495 U.S. 1 (1990)
- Birchfield v. N. Dakota. William Robert Bernard · 579 U.S. 438 (2016)
- Whren v. United States · 517 U.S. 806 (1996)
- Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
- City of Indianapolis v. Edmond · 531 U.S. 32 (2000)
- National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
- Horton v. California · 496 U.S. 128 (1990)
- California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
- Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
- O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1987). 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).