Maryland, Petitioner v. Alonzo Jay King, Jr.

Decided June 3, 2013. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 12-207 · 569 U.S. 435 (2013) · Cited 671 times

Holding

When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under 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 5–4.

“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.

• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton · 515 U.S. 646 (1995)
• Winston v. Lee · 470 U.S. 753 (1985)
• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• Illinois v. McArthur · 531 U.S. 326 (2001)
• Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County of Burlington · 566 U.S. 318 (2012)
• Schmerber v. California · 384 U.S. 757 (1966)
• City of Indianapolis v. Edmond · 531 U.S. 32 (2000)
• United States v. Robinson · 414 U.S. 218 (1973)
• Illinois v. Lafayette · 462 U.S. 640 (1983)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Mapp v. Ohio · 367 U.S. 643 (1961)
• Arizona v. Gant · 556 U.S. 332 (2009)
• District Attorney's Office for the Third Judicial District v. Osborne · 557 U.S. 52 (2009)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Whalen v. Roe · 429 U.S. 589 (1977)
• County of Riverside v. McLaughlin · 500 U.S. 44 (1991)
• National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
• Samson v. California · 547 U.S. 843 (2006)
• Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Court of Nev., Humboldt Cty. · 542 U.S. 177 (2004)
• Cupp v. Murphy · 412 U.S. 291 (1973)
• Miranda v. Arizona · 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• Chimel v. California · 395 U.S. 752 (1969)
• United States v. Salerno · 481 U.S. 739 (1987)
• Gerstein v. Pugh · 420 U.S. 103 (1975)
• Johnson v. United States · 333 U.S. 10 (1948)
• New York v. Belton · 453 U.S. 454 (1981)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)

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)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2013). 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).