United States v. Jacobsen et al.

Decided April 2, 1984. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 82-1167 · 466 U.S. 109 (1984) · Cited 3,218 times

Holding

The Fourth Amendment did not require the DEA agent to obtain a warrant before testing the white powder.

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.

• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• Walter v. United States · 447 U.S. 649 (1980)
• United States v. Chadwick · 433 U.S. 1 (1977)
• Texas v. Brown · 460 U.S. 730 (1983)
• United States v. Ross · 456 U.S. 798 (1982)
• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• Arkansas v. Sanders · 442 U.S. 753 (1979)
• Robbins v. California · 453 U.S. 420 (1981)
• Coolidge v. New Hampshire · 403 U.S. 443 (1971)
• United States v. Van Leeuwen · 397 U.S. 249 (1970)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Payton v. New York · 445 U.S. 573 (1980)
• Smith v. Maryland · 442 U.S. 735 (1979)
• Burdeau v. McDowell · 256 U.S. 465 (1921)
• United States v. White · 401 U.S. 745 (1971)
• Lopez v. United States · 373 U.S. 427 (1963)
• Illinois v. Andreas · 463 U.S. 765 (1983)
• United States v. Brignoni-Ponce · 422 U.S. 873 (1975)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• United States v. Miller · 425 U.S. 435 (1976)
• Cardwell v. Lewis · 417 U.S. 583 (1974)
• United States v. Caceres · 440 U.S. 741 (1979)
• United States v. Knotts · 460 U.S. 276 (1983)
• Cupp v. Murphy · 412 U.S. 291 (1973)
• Byars v. United States · 273 U.S. 28 (1927)
• On Lee v. United States · 343 U.S. 747 (1952)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Wong Sun v. United States · 371 U.S. 471 (1963)
• Aguilar v. Texas · 378 U.S. 108 (1964)
• United States v. Mendenhall · 446 U.S. 544 (1980)

Cited by

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

• Illinois v. Caballes · 543 U.S. 405 (2005)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• United States v. Karo · 468 U.S. 705 (1984)
• California v. Greenwood · 486 U.S. 35 (1988)
• Soldal v. Cook County · 506 U.S. 56 (1992)
• Florida v. Jardines · 569 U.S. 1 (2013)
• Segura v. United States · 468 U.S. 796 (1984)
• Georgia v. Randolph · 547 U.S. 103 (2006)
• Maryland v. MacOn · 472 U.S. 463 (1985)
• Horton v. California · 496 U.S. 128 (1990)
• Maryland v. Garrison · 480 U.S. 79 (1987)
• California v. Hodari D. · 499 U.S. 621 (1991)
• Minnesota v. Dickerson · 508 U.S. 366 (1993)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Kyllo v. United States · 533 U.S. 27 (2001)
• California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
• O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
• Messerschmidt v. Millender · 565 U.S. 535 (2012)
• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• United States v. Johns · 469 U.S. 478 (1985)
• Torres v. Madrid · 592 U.S. 306 (2021)

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).