Maryland v. Jerome Edward Buie

Decided February 28, 1990. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-1369 · 494 U.S. 325 (1990) · Cited 2,122 times

Holding

The Fourth Amendment permits a properly limited protective sweep in conjunction with an in-home arrest when the searching officer possesses a reasonable belief based on specific and articulable facts that the area to be swept harbors an individual posing a danger to those on the arrest scene.

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.

“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.

• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Michigan v. Long · 463 U.S. 1032 (1983)
• Chimel v. California · 395 U.S. 752 (1969)
• Arizona v. Hicks · 480 U.S. 321 (1987)
• Michigan v. Summers · 452 U.S. 692 (1981)
• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• Pennsylvania v. Mimms · 434 U.S. 106 (1977)
• Payton v. New York · 445 U.S. 573 (1980)
• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
• United States v. Sokolow · 490 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• Griffin v. Wisconsin · 483 U.S. 868 (1987)
• Ybarra v. Illinois · 444 U.S. 85 (1979)
• United States v. Hasting · 461 U.S. 499 (1983)
• United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan · 407 U.S. 297 (1972)
• New York v. Class · 475 U.S. 106 (1986)
• United States v. Villamonte-Marquez · 462 U.S. 579 (1983)

Cited by

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

• Arizona v. Gant · 556 U.S. 332 (2009)
• Maryland v. King · 569 U.S. 435 (2013)
• Horton v. California · 496 U.S. 128 (1990)
• United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property · 510 U.S. 43 (1993)
• Richards v. Wisconsin · 520 U.S. 385 (1997)
• Bailey v. United States · 568 U.S. 186 (2013)
• Lange v. California · 594 U.S. 295 (2021)

Official text

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

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Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).