U.S. Supreme Court
9-0 Court Allows Search & Seizure in Va. Case
The U.S. Supreme Court held Wednesday that police have the power to search and seize evidence, even when the arrest turns out to have violated state law.
The high court’s decision stems from the Virginia case of David Lee Moore. City police seized crack cocaine from Moore’s vehicle after he was arrested for driving on a suspended license, the Associated Press reports.
Driving on a suspended license isn’t a crime that calls for arrest in Virginia, so Moore challenged the subsequent search and seizure.
The court unanimously (PDF) rejected Moore’s challenge, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing, “We reaffirm against a novel challenge what we have signaled for half a century.”
