Supreme rules police search is valid.
The Supreme Court ruled today that a search of an arrestee did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights where the arrest was illegal under Virginia state law, but the police had probable cause to arrest. In Virginia v. Moore, the defendant had been arrested for a misdemeanor traffic offense and then taken to his motel room where cocaine and money was found. He was convicted of possession with intent to distribute. Minor traffic violations are not arrestable under Virginia law, so the officers did not have state legal authority to make the arrest. The opinion by Scalia found, though, that the federal standard probable cause is what controls the validity of a search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment, and since there was probable cause to make an arrest, the subsequent transport was valid [slip opinion, here].
It will be interesting to see what effect this ruling will have in the area of administrative searches. If a car is towed by the authorities, for example, it can be searched for purposes of conducting an inventory of the contents to avoid future claims of theft. If such a search reveals contraband, the evidence is admissible as long as the search comported with the administrative regulations. Such searches are often conducted by officers who’s real intent is to find contraband. It appears at first blush, that merely establishing that such a search was not in compliance with the regulations may not be enough if the State now has fresh ammunition to argue that the regulation is irrelevant as long as the officer had probable cause to search anyway.
More at SCOTUSblog.
