United States v. Chadwick et al.

Decided June 21, 1977. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 75-1721 · 433 U.S. 1 (1977) · Cited 2,561 times

Holding

Respondents were entitled to the protection of the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment, with the evaluation of a neutral magistrate, before their privacy interests in the contents of the footlocker were invaded.

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.

• South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
• Chambers v. Maroney · 399 U.S. 42 (1970)
• United States v. Robinson · 414 U.S. 218 (1973)
• Chimel v. California · 395 U.S. 752 (1969)
• Cady v. Dombrowski · 413 U.S. 433 (1973)
• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• United States v. Edwards · 415 U.S. 800 (1974)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• Preston v. United States · 376 U.S. 364 (1964)
• Cooper v. California · 386 U.S. 58 (1967)
• Cardwell v. Lewis · 417 U.S. 583 (1974)
• Ex Parte Jackson · 96 U.S. 727 (1878)
• Texas v. White · 423 U.S. 67 (1975)
• Coolidge v. New Hampshire · 403 U.S. 443 (1971)
• Carroll v. United States · 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
• Johnson v. United States · 333 U.S. 10 (1948)
• Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden · 387 U.S. 294 (1967)
• Draper v. United States · 358 U.S. 307 (1959)
• United States v. Watson · 423 U.S. 411 (1976)
• United States v. Rabinowitz · 339 U.S. 56 (1950)
• Wolf v. Colorado · 338 U.S. 25 (1949)
• United States v. Jeffers · 342 U.S. 48 (1951)
• Stanford v. Texas · 379 U.S. 476 (1965)
• Marcus v. Search Warrant of Property · 367 U.S. 717 (1961)
• Mancusi v. DeForte · 392 U.S. 364 (1968)
• Gustafson v. Florida · 414 U.S. 260 (1973)
• G. M. Leasing Corp. v. United States · 429 U.S. 338 (1977)
• United States v. Van Leeuwen · 397 U.S. 249 (1970)

Cited by

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

• California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
• Arkansas v. Sanders · 442 U.S. 753 (1979)
• United States v. Ross · 456 U.S. 798 (1982)
• Robbins v. California · 453 U.S. 420 (1981)
• Rakas v. Illinois · 439 U.S. 128 (1978)
• United States v. Johns · 469 U.S. 478 (1985)
• United States v. Jacobsen · 466 U.S. 109 (1984)
• New York v. Belton · 453 U.S. 454 (1981)
• California v. Carney · 471 U.S. 386 (1985)
• Oliver v. United States · 466 U.S. 170 (1984)
• Segura v. United States · 468 U.S. 796 (1984)
• Colorado v. Bertine · 479 U.S. 367 (1987)
• Illinois v. Lafayette · 462 U.S. 640 (1983)
• United States v. Leon · 468 U.S. 897 (1984)
• Payton v. New York · 445 U.S. 573 (1980)
• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• Texas v. Brown · 460 U.S. 730 (1983)
• Birchfield v. N. Dakota. William Robert Bernard · 579 U.S. 438 (2016)
• Illinois v. Andreas · 463 U.S. 765 (1983)
• Torres v. Puerto Rico · 442 U.S. 465 (1979)
• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• Florida v. Jimeno · 500 U.S. 248 (1991)
• Michigan v. Tyler · 436 U.S. 499 (1978)
• California v. Greenwood · 486 U.S. 35 (1988)
• United States v. Karo · 468 U.S. 705 (1984)
• Walter v. United States · 447 U.S. 649 (1980)
• United States v. Grubbs · 547 U.S. 90 (2006)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Mincey v. Arizona · 437 U.S. 385 (1978)
• California v. Hodari D. · 499 U.S. 621 (1991)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1977). 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).