Almeida-Sanchez v. United States

Almeida-Sanchez v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 19, 28, 1973 Decided June 21, 1973
Full case name	Almeida-Sanchez v. United States
Citations	413 U.S. 266 (more) 93 S. Ct. 2535; 37 L. Ed. 2d 596; 1973 U.S. LEXIS 44
Prior history	Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Holding
Searches of automobiles must still have probable cause even in the absence of a warrant.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan, Jr. Potter Stewart · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell, Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinions
Majority	Stewart, joined by Douglas, Brennan, Marshall, Powell
Concurrence	Powell
Dissent	White, joined by Burger, Blackmun, Rehnquist
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. IV

Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266 (1973), was a United States Supreme Court case.

This case involved the United States border patrol which conducted a search without warrant or probable cause. The vehicle was stopped and searched an automobile for illegal aliens twenty-five miles from the Mexican border. The Court approached the search from two views: automobile search and border search. As to the validity of the search under the automobile exception, the Court found no justification for the search under the Carroll doctrine because there was no probable cause. The Court added that "the Carroll doctrine does not declare a field day for the police in searching automobiles. Automobile or no automobile, there must be probable cause for the search."