Michael a. Whren and James L. Brown v. United States

Decided June 10, 1996. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-5841 · 517 U.S. 806 (1996) · Cited 7,105 times

Holding

The temporary detention of a motorist upon probable cause to believe that he has violated the traffic laws does not violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable seizures, even if a reasonable officer would not have stopped the motorist absent some additional law enforcement objective.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
• United States v. Robinson · 414 U.S. 218 (1973)
• United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
• United States v. Brignoni-Ponce · 422 U.S. 873 (1975)
• Abel v. United States · 362 U.S. 217 (1960)
• Gustafson v. Florida · 414 U.S. 260 (1973)
• Colorado v. Bannister · 449 U.S. 1 (1980)
• Colorado v. Bertine · 479 U.S. 367 (1987)
• Scott v. United States · 436 U.S. 128 (1978)
• New York v. Burger · 482 U.S. 691 (1987)
• United States v. Villamonte-Marquez · 462 U.S. 579 (1983)
• Tennessee v. Garner · 471 U.S. 1 (1985)
• South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
• Pennsylvania v. Mimms · 434 U.S. 106 (1977)
• Welsh v. Wisconsin · 466 U.S. 740 (1984)
• Florida v. Wells · 495 U.S. 1 (1990)
• Wilson v. Arkansas · 514 U.S. 927 (1995)
• United States v. Caceres · 440 U.S. 741 (1979)
• Winston v. Lee · 470 U.S. 753 (1985)
• Donovan v. Dewey · 452 U.S. 594 (1981)

Cited by

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

• City of Indianapolis v. Edmond · 531 U.S. 32 (2000)
• Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
• Arkansas v. Sullivan · 532 U.S. 769 (2001)
• Rodriguez v. United States · 575 U.S. 348 (2015)
• Virginia v. Moore · 553 U.S. 164 (2008)
• Devenpeck v. Alford · 543 U.S. 146 (2004)
• Herring v. United States · 555 U.S. 135 (2009)
• Brendlin v. California · 551 U.S. 249 (2007)
• Florida v. Jardines · 569 U.S. 1 (2013)
• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)
• Ohio v. Robinette · 519 U.S. 33 (1996)
• Maryland v. Wilson · 519 U.S. 408 (1997)
• United States v. Knights · 534 U.S. 112 (2001)
• Reichle v. Howards · 566 U.S. 658 (2012)
• Prado Navarette v. California · 572 U.S. 393 (2014)
• Bond v. United States · 529 U.S. 334 (2000)
• County of Los Angeles v. Mendez · 581 U.S. 420 (2017)
• Davis v. Washington · 547 U.S. 813 (2006)
• Brigham City v. Stuart · 547 U.S. 398 (2006)
• Missouri v. Seibert · 542 U.S. 600 (2004)
• Kentucky v. King · 563 U.S. 452 (2011)
• Georgia v. Randolph · 547 U.S. 103 (2006)
• Thompson v. Clark · 596 U.S. 36 (2022)
• Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County of Burlington · 566 U.S. 318 (2012)
• Utah v. Strieff · 579 U.S. 232 (2016)
• Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon · 602 U.S. 556 (2024)
• Lange v. California · 594 U.S. 295 (2021)
• Gonzalez v. Trevino · 602 U.S. 653 (2024)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1996). 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).