No. 73-6848
Argued: February 18, 1975Decided: June 30, 1975
500 F.2d 960, affirmed.
POWELL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C. J., and WHITE, BLACKMUN, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. DOUGLAS, J., post, p. 921, and BRENNAN and MARSHALL, JJ., post, p. 921, filed dissenting statements. STEWART, J., dissented.k
Michael D. Nasatir, by appointment of the Court, 419 U.S. 1017 , argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs was Jerald W. Newton.
Mark L. Evans argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Bork, Acting Assistant Attorney General Keeney, and Sidney M. Glazer.
MR. JUSTICE POWELL delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner was convicted of federal drug offenses based on evidence seized in January 1971 when Border Patrol officers stopped his camper pickup at a traffic checkpoint on California Highway 86, about 36 air miles from the Mexican border. The officers first determined that petitioner was a United States citizen, then asked him to open the camper so that they could search for concealed aliens. When petitioner opened the door, one officer noticed a strong odor of marihuana. He entered the camper and discovered approximately 356 pounds of the drug. A subsequent search of the passenger compartment produced a number of benzedrine tablets.
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed petitioner’s conviction, rejecting his argument that the search was unlawful. 462 F.2d 347 (1972). A petition for certiorari was pending when we announced our decision in Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266 (1973), holding that the Fourth Amendment prohibits the use of roving patrols to search vehicles, with neither a warrant nor probable cause, at points removed from the border and its functional equivalents. We vacated the judgment in petitioner’s case and remanded for reconsideration in light of Almeida-Sanchez. 413 U.S. 915 (1973).
The Court of Appeals reheard the case en banc and held, in a sharply divided opinion, that the principles of Almeida-Sanchez applied to searches conducted at traffic checkpoints as well as searches conducted by roving patrols. The Court nevertheless affirmed petitioner’s conviction, holding that Almeida-Sanchez would not be applied to invalidate searches that occurred prior to the date of that decision. 500 F.2d 960 (1974). We [422 U.S. 916, 918] granted certiorari to resolve an apparent conflict with the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in United States v. King, 485 F.2d 353 (1973), and United States v. Maddox, 485 F.2d 361 (1973).
