Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/466/380/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:43:57+00:00

Document:
At the time of respondent's arrest for sexual battery, police officers searched his automobile and seized several items. Approximately eight hours after the car was impounded, an officer, without obtaining a warrant, searched the car a second time, seizing additional evidence. The Florida trial court denied respondent's motion to suppress the evidence seized during the second search, and respondent was convicted. The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed, holding that even though respondent conceded that the initial search of the car was valid, the second warrantless search violated the Fourth Amendment because the car had been impounded, removing the element of mobility.
Held: The Fourth Amendment was not violated by the second search of respondent's car. The justification to conduct a warrantless search of a car that has been stopped on the road -- based on probable cause to believe there is evidence of crime inside it -- does not vanish once the car has been impounded and immobilized. Michigan v. Thomas, 458 U. S. 259.
Certiorari granted; 432 So.2d 97, reversed and remanded.
District Court of Appeal is reversed, and the case is remanded to that court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
* Even though the District Court of Appeal remanded the case for a new trial, its decision on the federal constitutional issue is reviewable at this time because, if the State prevails at the trial, the issue will be mooted, and if the State loses, governing state law, Fla.Stat. § 924.07 (1981); State v. Brown, 330 So.2d 535, 536 (Fla.App.1976), will prohibit it from presenting the federal claim for review. In such circumstances, we have consistently held that "the decision below constitute[s] a final judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 1257(3)." California v. Stewart, decided with Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 384 U. S. 497, 384 U. S. 498, n. 71 (1966). See South Dakota v. Neville, 459 U. S. 553, 459 U. S. 558, n. 6 (1983); North Dakota Pharmacy Board v. Snyder's Stores, 414 U. S. 156, 414 U. S. 159-164 (1973). See also Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469, 420 U. S. 481 (1975).
"the appellate court reversed [respondent's] conviction on two independent grounds, one of which (restricted cross-examination) petitioner does not contest."
Brief in Opposition 2. To the extent that this is an argument that the lower court's judgment is unreviewable because it rests on adequate and independent state grounds, we reject it. First, it is highly questionable whether the District Court of Appeal would have reversed the conviction had it not reversed the trial court's ruling on the suppression motion. The court did state that respondent's cross-examination of the victim had been unduly restricted by the trial court. However, the court's short discussion of this issue was introduced by the observation that, "[s]ince the case must be remanded for a new trial, we briefly mention another appellate point." 432 So.2d at 99. This is hardly a clear indication that the cross-examination ruling provided an independent and adequate basis for reversal of the conviction. See Michigan v. Long, 463 U. S. 1032, 463 U. S. 1040-1041 (1983).
"[w]e are not permitted to render an advisory opinion, and if the same judgment would be rendered by the state court after we corrected its views of federal laws, our review could amount to nothing more than an advisory opinion."
Herb v. Pitcairn, 324 U. S. 117, 324 U. S. 126 (1945). In the present case, there is no possibility that our opinion will be merely advisory. Even if the District Court of Appeal were to order a new trial solely on the basis of its cross-examination ruling, the admissibility of critical evidence at that trial hinges on the constitutional issue presented for review by petitioner. Thus, our resolution of that issue will affect the proceedings below regardless of how the District Court of Appeal rules on remand. In such circumstances there is no jurisdictional reason why we cannot address the issue presented to us.
No judicial system is perfect. In this case, the Florida District Court of Appeal for the Fourth District appears to have made an error. In the exercise of its discretion, the Florida Supreme Court elected not to correct that error. No reasons were given for its denial of review, and since the record is not before us, we cannot know what discretionary factors may have prompted the Florida Supreme Court's decision. This Court, however, finds time to correct the apparent error committed by the intermediate appellate court, acting summarily without benefit of briefs on the merits or argument.
"This Court can only deal with a certain number of cases on the merits in any given Term, and therefore some judgment must attend the process of selection."
Torres-Valencia v. United States, 464 U. S. 44 (1983) (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting). If the error corrected today had been committed by a federal court, the Court's action arguably would be a proper exercise of its supervisory powers over the federal judicial system. See this Court's Rule 17.1(a). Or if the case raised a novel question of federal law on which there was a divergence of opinion, arguably it would be proper for the Court to assume jurisdiction for the purpose of clarifying the law. See this Court's Rules 17.1(b) and (c). Or if there were reason to believe that the state court refused to apply federal precedent because of its hostility to this Court's interpretation of the Constitution, see generally Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U. S. 1 (1958), we might have an obligation to act summarily to vindicate the supremacy of federal law. No such consideration is present in this case. In fact, the case on which the majority principally relies, Michigan v. Thomas, 458 U.S.
concerning our confidence in the ability of the state judges to decide Fourth Amendment questions, see Allen v. McCurry, 449 U. S. 90 (1980); Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465 (1976), are given a hollow ring when we are found peering over their shoulders after every misreading of the Fourth Amendment. Second, our ability to perform our primary responsibilities can only be undermined by enlarging our self-appointed role as supervisors of the administration of justice in the state judicial systems. Dispositions such as that today can only encourage prosecutors to file in increasing numbers petitions for certiorari in relatively routine cases, and if we take it upon ourselves to review and correct every incorrect disposition of a federal question by every intermediate state appellate court, we will soon become so busy that we will either be unable to discharge our primary responsibilities effectively or else be forced to make still another adjustment in the size of our staff in order to process cases effectively. We should focus our attention on methods of using our scarce resources wisely, rather than laying another course of bricks in the building of a federal judicial bureaucracy.
"I believe that, in reviewing the decisions of state courts, the primary role of this Court is to make sure that persons who seek to vindicate federal rights have been fairly heard."
overused its power of summary disposition to protect the citizen against government overreaching. Nevertheless, the Court must be ever mindful of its primary role as the protector of the citizen, and not the warden or the prosecutor. The Framers surely feared the latter more than the former. I respectfully dissent.
"[W]hen, as in this case, a state court decision fairly appears to rest primarily on federal law, or to be interwoven with the federal law, and when the adequacy and independence of any possible state law ground is not clear from the face of the opinion, we will accept as the most reasonable explanation that the state court decided the case the way it did because it believed that federal law required it to do so. If a state court chooses merely to rely on federal precedents as it would on the precedents of all other jurisdictions, then it need only make clear by a plain statement in its judgment or opinion that the federal cases are being used only for the purpose of guidance, and do not themselves compel the result that the court has reached."
Id. at 463 U. S. 1040-1041.
In effect, Long created a presumption of jurisdiction when the state decision rests "primarily on" or is "interwoven with" federal law. See id. at 463 U. S. 1042, and n. 8. Here, the cross-examination ruling in no sense "rested on" or was "interwoven with" federal law. Yet today, by its citation of Long, the Court implies that all state courts have some sort of duty to make a plain statement that even their indisputably state law decisions are independent of any federal question in the case. This apparent extension of Long occurs without briefs on the merits or argument; in fact petitioner does not even cite Long. It is all the more puzzling since the last paragraph in the Court's footnote is sufficient to support the exercise of jurisdiction over this case without any reliance on Long.
This trend, unfortunately, does not appear to be limited to the Court's summary dispositions. See Long, 463 U.S. at 463 U. S. 1069-1070, and n. 3 (STEVENS, J., dissenting).
The cases, other than this one, are: Rushen v. Spain, 464 U. S. 114 (1983) (per curiam); Wainwright v. Goode, 464 U. S. 78 (1983) (per curiam); California v. Beheler, 463 U. S. 1121 (1983) (per curiam); Illinois v. Batchelder, 463 U. S. 1112 (1983) (per curiam); Maggio v. Fulford, 462 U. S. 111 (1983) (per curiam); Cardwell v. Taylor, 461 U. S. 571 (1983) (per curiam); Wyrick v. Fields, 459 U. S. 42 (1982) (per curiam); Anderson v. Harless, 459 U. S. 4 (1982) (per curiam); United States v. Hollywood Motor Car Co., 458 U. S. 263 (1982) (per curiam); Michigan v. Thomas, 458 U. S. 259 (1982) (per curiam); Fletcher v. Weir, 455 U. S. 603 (1982) (per curiam); Sumner v. Mata, 455 U. S. 591 (1982) (per curiam); Wainwright v. Torna, 455 U. S. 586 (1982) (per curiam); Hutto v. Davis, 454 U. S. 370 (1982) (per curiam); Harris v. Rivera, 454 U. S. 339 (1981) (per curiam); Leeke v. Timmerman, 454 U. S. 83 (1981) (per curiam); Jago v. Van Curen, 454 U. S. 14 (1981) (per curiam); Duckworth v. Serrano, 454 U. S. 1 (1981) (per curiam). See also Board of Ed. of Rogers, Ark. v. McCluskey, 458 U. S. 966, 458 U. S. 972-973 (1982) (STEVENS, J., dissenting).

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