Virginia v. David Lee Moore

Decided April 23, 2008. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 06-1082 · 553 U.S. 164 (2008) · Cited 793 times

Holding

The police did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they made an arrest that was based on probable cause but prohibited by state law, or when they performed a search incident to the arrest.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
• United States v. Di Re · 332 U.S. 581 (1948)
• Gerstein v. Pugh · 420 U.S. 103 (1975)
• United States v. Robinson · 414 U.S. 218 (1973)
• Whren v. United States · 517 U.S. 806 (1996)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Devenpeck v. Alford · 543 U.S. 146 (2004)
• Johnson v. United States · 333 U.S. 10 (1948)
• Michigan v. DeFillippo · 443 U.S. 31 (1979)
• Cooper v. California · 386 U.S. 58 (1967)
• California v. Greenwood · 486 U.S. 35 (1988)
• Wyoming v. Houghton · 526 U.S. 295 (1999)
• Knowles v. Iowa · 525 U.S. 113 (1998)
• Brinegar v. United States · 338 U.S. 160 (1949)
• Wong Sun v. United States · 371 U.S. 471 (1963)
• Payton v. New York · 445 U.S. 573 (1980)
• Elkins v. United States · 364 U.S. 206 (1960)
• United States v. Watson · 423 U.S. 411 (1976)
• Wilson v. Arkansas · 514 U.S. 927 (1995)
• Barron Ex Rel. Tiernan v. Mayor of Baltimore · 32 U.S. 243 (1833)

Cited by

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

• Rodriguez v. United States · 575 U.S. 348 (2015)
• Missouri v. McNeely · 569 U.S. 141 (2013)
• Birchfield v. N. Dakota. William Robert Bernard · 579 U.S. 438 (2016)
• Arizona v. Gant · 556 U.S. 332 (2009)
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen · 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
• Lange v. California · 594 U.S. 295 (2021)
• Rothgery v. Gillespie County · 554 U.S. 191 (2008)
• Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2008). 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).