Oliver v. United States

Decided April 17, 1984. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 82-15 · 466 U.S. 170 (1984) · Cited 1,923 times

Holding

The open fields doctrine should be applied in both cases to determine whether the discovery or seizure of the marihuana in question was valid.

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.

• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• Hester v. United States · 265 U.S. 57 (1924)
• Rakas v. Illinois · 439 U.S. 128 (1978)
• United States v. Chadwick · 433 U.S. 1 (1977)
• Smith v. Maryland · 442 U.S. 735 (1979)
• Payton v. New York · 445 U.S. 573 (1980)
• New York v. Belton · 453 U.S. 454 (1981)
• Olmstead v. United States · 277 U.S. 438 (1928)
• Air Pollution Variance Bd. of Colo. v. Western Alfalfa Corp. · 416 U.S. 861 (1974)
• Jones v. United States · 362 U.S. 257 (1960)
• Rawlings v. Kentucky · 448 U.S. 98 (1980)
• Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. · 436 U.S. 307 (1978)
• G. M. Leasing Corp. v. United States · 429 U.S. 338 (1977)
• Illinois v. Andreas · 463 U.S. 765 (1983)
• Robbins v. California · 453 U.S. 420 (1981)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Michigan v. Long · 463 U.S. 1032 (1983)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Dunaway v. New York · 442 U.S. 200 (1979)
• United States v. Robinson · 414 U.S. 218 (1973)
• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden · 387 U.S. 294 (1967)
• Texas v. Brown · 460 U.S. 730 (1983)
• Alderman v. United States · 394 U.S. 165 (1969)
• United States v. Watson · 423 U.S. 411 (1976)
• United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
• United States v. Salvucci · 448 U.S. 83 (1980)
• McDonald v. United States · 335 U.S. 451 (1948)
• United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan · 407 U.S. 297 (1972)
• Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, County of Norfolk · 457 U.S. 596 (1982)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Dunn · 480 U.S. 294 (1987)
• Dow Chemical Co. v. United States Ex Rel. Administrator · 476 U.S. 227 (1986)
• California v. Ciraolo · 476 U.S. 207 (1986)
• Florida v. Jardines · 569 U.S. 1 (2013)
• Collins v. Virginia · 584 U.S. 586 (2018)
• California v. Rooney · 483 U.S. 307 (1987)
• O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
• California v. Greenwood · 486 U.S. 35 (1988)
• Florida v. Riley · 488 U.S. 445 (1989)
• Carpenter v. United States · 585 U.S. 296 (2018)
• Soldal v. Cook County · 506 U.S. 56 (1992)
• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Kyllo v. United States · 533 U.S. 27 (2001)
• Segura v. United States · 468 U.S. 796 (1984)
• California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
• United States v. Karo · 468 U.S. 705 (1984)
• Arizona v. Evans · 514 U.S. 1 (1995)
• New York v. Class · 475 U.S. 106 (1986)
• Florida v. Powell · 559 U.S. 50 (2010)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1984). 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).