United States v. Montoya De Hernandez

Decided July 1, 1985. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-755 · 473 U.S. 531 (1985) · Cited 982 times

Holding

The detention of a traveler at the border, beyond the scope of a routine customs search and inspection, is justified at its inception if customs agents, considering all the facts surrounding the traveler and her trip, reasonably suspect that the traveler is smuggling contraband in her alimentary canal; here, the facts, and their rational inferences, known to the customs officials clearly supported a reasonable suspicion that respondent was an alimentary canal smuggler.

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)
• United States v. Sharpe · 470 U.S. 675 (1985)
• United States v. Ramsey · 431 U.S. 606 (1977)
• Schmerber v. California · 384 U.S. 757 (1966)
• Florida v. Royer · 460 U.S. 491 (1983)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• Brinegar v. United States · 338 U.S. 160 (1949)
• Dunaway v. New York · 442 U.S. 200 (1979)
• United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
• United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan · 407 U.S. 297 (1972)
• Davis v. United States · 328 U.S. 582 (1946)
• Carroll v. United States · 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
• United States v. Cortez · 449 U.S. 411 (1981)
• Brown v. Illinois · 422 U.S. 590 (1975)
• Davis v. Mississippi · 394 U.S. 721 (1969)
• Almeida-Sanchez v. United States · 413 U.S. 266 (1973)
• Coolidge v. New Hampshire · 403 U.S. 443 (1971)
• Beck v. Ohio · 379 U.S. 89 (1964)
• Adams v. Williams · 407 U.S. 143 (1972)
• Gerstein v. Pugh · 420 U.S. 103 (1975)
• 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)
• Abel v. United States · 362 U.S. 217 (1960)
• Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. · 436 U.S. 307 (1978)
• Winston v. Lee · 470 U.S. 753 (1985)
• Wong Wing v. United States · 163 U.S. 228 (1896)
• United States v. 12 200-Ft. Reels of Super 8MM. Film · 413 U.S. 123 (1973)
• United States v. Villamonte-Marquez · 462 U.S. 579 (1983)
• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Flores-Montano · 541 U.S. 149 (2004)
• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
• United States v. Sokolow · 490 U.S. 1 (1989)
• City of Indianapolis v. Edmond · 531 U.S. 32 (2000)
• Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton · 515 U.S. 646 (1995)
• California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
• County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union · 492 U.S. 573 (1989)
• United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez · 494 U.S. 259 (1990)
• DePierre v. United States · 564 U.S. 70 (2011)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1985). 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).