| Schneckloth v. Bustamonte | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued October 10, 1972 Decided May 29, 1973 | |
| Full case name | Merle R. Schneckloth, Superintendent, California Conservation Center, Petitioner v. Robert Clyde Bustamonte |
| Citations | 412 U.S. 218 (more) 93 S. Ct. 2041; 36 L. Ed. 2d 854 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Holding | |
| Consent searches are constitutional, and the government must show that consent existed. However, a defendant, under the Fourth Amendment, need not necessarily know of his right to object to a consent search. This differentiates the case from Miranda v. Arizona, where the Court held that a defendant must know of his/her rights against self-incrimination in the course of a custodial interrogation. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Stewart, joined by Burger, White, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist |
| Concurrence | Blackmun |
| Concurrence | Powell, joined by Burger, Rehnquist |
| Dissent | Douglas |
| Dissent | Brennan |
| Dissent | Marshall |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. IV, XIV | |
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218 (1973), was a U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled that in a case involving a consent search, although knowledge of a right to refuse consent is a factor in determining whether a grant of consent to a search was voluntary, the state does not need to prove that the person who granted consent to search knew of the right to refuse consent under the Fourth Amendment.