Arizona v. Gant
| Arizona v. Gant | |
|---|---|
| Argued October 7, 2008 Decided April 21, 2009 | |
| Full case name | State of Arizona, Petitioner v. Rodney Joseph Gant |
| Docket no. | 07-542 |
| Citations | 556 U.S. 332 (more) 129 S.Ct. 1710; 173 L. Ed. 2d 485; 2009 U.S. LEXIS 3120; 77 USLW 4285; 09 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4732; 2009 Daily Journal D.A.R. 5611; 21 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 781 |
| Holding | |
| 1) Belton does not authorize a vehicle search incident to a recent occupant’s arrest after the arrestee has been secured and cannot access the interior of the vehicle. 2) Circumstances unique to the automobile context justify a search incident to arrest when it is reasonable to believe that evidence of the offense of arrest might be found in the vehicle. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Stevens, joined by Scalia, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg |
| Concurrence | Scalia |
| Dissent | Breyer |
| Dissent | Alito, joined by Roberts, Kennedy; Breyer (except Part II–E) |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. IV | |
Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009), was a United States Supreme Court decision holding that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law-enforcement officers to demonstrate an actual and continuing threat to their safety posed by an arrestee, or a need to preserve evidence related to the crime of arrest from tampering by the arrestee, in order to justify a warrantless vehicular search incident to arrest conducted after the vehicle's recent occupants have been arrested and secured.