Florida v. Luz Piedad Jimeno et al.
Decided May 23, 1991. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 90-622 · 500 U.S. 248 (1991) · Cited 2,277 times
Holding
A criminal suspect's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches is not violated when, after he gives police permission to search his car, they open a closed container found within the car that might reasonably hold the object of the search.
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 · 7
- William Hubbs Rehnquist · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- Antonin Scalia
- Byron Raymond White
- David Hackett Souter
- Harry Andrew Blackmun
- Sandra Day O'Connor
Dissenting · 2
- John Paul Stevens
- Thurgood Marshall · filed a dissenting opinion
“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.
- Schneckloth v. Bustamonte · 412 U.S. 218 (1973)
- United States v. Ross · 456 U.S. 798 (1982)
- Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
- Florida v. Royer · 460 U.S. 491 (1983)
- South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
- Illinois v. Rodriguez · 497 U.S. 177 (1990)
- United States v. Chadwick · 433 U.S. 1 (1977)
- Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
- Arkansas v. Sanders · 442 U.S. 753 (1979)
- Cardwell v. Lewis · 417 U.S. 583 (1974)
- Florida v. Wells · 495 U.S. 1 (1990)
- Robbins v. California · 453 U.S. 420 (1981)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Ohio v. Robinette · 519 U.S. 33 (1996)
- Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
- Muscarello v. United States · 524 U.S. 125 (1998)
- Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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William Hubbs Rehnquist’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).