United States v. Rene Martin Verdugo-Urquidez

Decided February 28, 1990. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-1353 · 494 U.S. 259 (1990) · Cited 810 times

Holding

The Fourth Amendment does not apply to the search and seizure by United States agents of property owned by a nonresident alien and located in a foreign country.

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.

• Reid v. Covert · 354 U.S. 1 (1957)
• Johnson v. Eisentrager · 339 U.S. 763 (1950)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Lopez-Mendoza · 468 U.S. 1032 (1984)
• Downes v. Bidwell · 182 U.S. 244 (1901)
• Dorr v. United States · 195 U.S. 138 (1904)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Little v. Barreme · 6 U.S. 170 (1804)
• Balzac v. Porto Rico · 258 U.S. 298 (1922)
• Plyler v. Doe · 457 U.S. 202 (1982)
• Olmstead v. United States · 277 U.S. 438 (1928)
• Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
• United States v. Leon · 468 U.S. 897 (1984)
• United States v. Calandra · 414 U.S. 338 (1974)
• Mathews v. Diaz · 426 U.S. 67 (1976)
• Kwong Hai Chew v. Colding · 344 U.S. 590 (1953)
• United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. · 299 U.S. 304 (1936)
• Bridges v. Wixon · 326 U.S. 135 (1945)
• Ocampo v. United States · 234 U.S. 91 (1914)
• Graham v. Connor · 490 U.S. 386 (1989)
• Coolidge v. New Hampshire · 403 U.S. 443 (1971)
• Tennessee v. Garner · 471 U.S. 1 (1985)
• Johnson v. United States · 333 U.S. 10 (1948)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
• Malloy v. Hogan · 378 U.S. 1 (1964)
• Butz v. Economou · 438 U.S. 478 (1978)
• Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden · 387 U.S. 294 (1967)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Hagans v. Lavine · 415 U.S. 528 (1974)
• Kastigar v. United States · 406 U.S. 441 (1972)

Cited by

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

• Hernández v. Mesa · 589 U.S. 93 (2020)
• Chavez v. Martinez · 538 U.S. 760 (2003)
• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• Boumediene v. Bush · 553 U.S. 723 (2008)
• Hernandez v. Mesa · 582 U.S. 548 (2017)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• Miller v. Albright · 523 U.S. 420 (1998)
• Agency for Int'l Development v. Alliance for Open Society · 591 U.S. 430 (2020)
• Demore v. Kim · 538 U.S. 510 (2003)
• Withrow v. Williams · 507 U.S. 680 (1993)
• Rasul v. Bush · 542 U.S. 466 (2004)
• Duro v. Reina · 495 U.S. 676 (1990)
• United States v. Balsys · 524 U.S. 666 (1998)
• Zadvydas v. Davis · 533 U.S. 678 (2001)
• Clapper v. Amnesty International USA · 568 U.S. 398 (2013)
• California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
• Carpenter v. United States · 585 U.S. 296 (2018)
• Trump v. Hawaii · 585 U.S. 667 (2018)
• United States v. Patane · 542 U.S. 630 (2004)
• Domino's Pizza, Inc. v. McDonald · 546 U.S. 470 (2006)
• United States v. Alvarez-Machain · 504 U.S. 655 (1992)
• Legal Services Corp. v. Velazquez · 531 U.S. 533 (2001)
• Ngiraingas v. Sanchez · 495 U.S. 182 (1990)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).