Arizona v. Gant, --- S.Ct. ----, 2009 WL 1045962, U.S.Ariz., April 21, 2009 (NO. 07-542)
The U.S. Supreme Court today decided Arizona v. Gant, a significant Fourth Amendment ruling in a case arising out of Tucson. The 5-4 decision was authored by Justice Stevens.
Stating that "[t]he doctrine of stare decisis does not require us to approve routine constitutional violations," the Court ended "blind adherence" to New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454 (1981). In Belton, the Court had held that when an officer lawfully arrests “the occupant of an automobile, he may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of the automobile” and any containers in it. See Belton, 453 U. S. at 460.
Defendant Gant had been convicted of felony drug charges based on cocaine police found in a jacket in the backseat of his car; that search was not authorized by warrant or exigency, but rather was conducted as a search incident to Gant's arrest for driving on a suspended license. At the time police searched the car--ostensibly a search authorized by Belton--Gant had already been handcuffed and locked in the police cruiser.
Noting that the Arizona Supreme Court "correctly held that this case involved an unreasonable search," the Court ruled that a search of a passenger compartment of a car incident to arrest is permissible only if "the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest." The ruling reaffirms the rationale for such searches originally articulated in Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752 (1969) -- officer safety and preservation of evidence.
Gant's attorney, UA alum Tom Jacobs, prepared for his Supreme Court argument with a moot hearing at the Rogers College of Law several months ago. Congratulations to Tom for this important win.