Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs v. Woodrow F. Sanders

Decided April 21, 2009. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 07-1209 · 556 U.S. 396 (2009) · Cited 2,961 times

Holding

Pol ice may search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if it is reasonable to believe that the arrestee might access the vehicle at the time of the search or that the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest.

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.

• Kotteakos v. United States · 328 U.S. 750 (1946)
• Neder v. United States · 527 U.S. 1 (1999)
• Palmer v. Hoffman · 318 U.S. 109 (1943)
• United States v. Olano · 507 U.S. 725 (1993)
• O'NEAL v. McAninch · 513 U.S. 432 (1995)
• McDonough Power Equipment, Inc. v. Greenwood · 464 U.S. 548 (1984)
• Brown v. Gardner · 513 U.S. 115 (1994)
• National Ass'n of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife · 551 U.S. 644 (2007)
• Keyes v. School Dist. No. 1, Denver · 413 U.S. 189 (1973)
• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• Market Street Railway Co. v. Railroad Commission of California · 324 U.S. 548 (1945)
• United States v. Fior D'Italia, Inc. · 536 U.S. 238 (2002)
• United States v. Borden Co. · 347 U.S. 514 (1954)
• United States v. Haggar Apparel Co. · 526 U.S. 380 (1999)
• Tipton v. Socony Mobil Oil Co. · 375 U.S. 34 (1963)

Cited by

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

• Bufkin v. Collins · 604 U.S. 369 (2025)
• Henderson v. Shinseki · 562 U.S. 428 (2011)
• Molina-Martinez v. United States · 578 U.S. 189 (2016)
• FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments, LLC · 604 U.S. 542 (2025)
• George v. McDonough · 596 U.S. 740 (2022)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’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).