Court Opinion

ID: 9460844
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:01:35.954633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:48.278104
License: Public Domain

ALFRED T. GOODWIN, Circuit Judge
(concurring and dissenting):
Believing that the legal history of roving patrols is fundamentally different from the legal history of fixed-checkpoint searches, I concur in that part of Judge Wallace’s opinion in Part II which limits the holding of Part I to searches conducted after June 23, 1973. While a roving-patrol search, supported by neither warrant nor probable cause, was not upheld by this circuit until 1970 (United States v. Miranda, 426 F.2d 283 (9th Cir. 1970)), a mere two years before certiorari was granted in Almeida-Sanchez (406 U.S. 944, 92 S.Ct. 2050, 32 L.Ed.2d 331 (1972)), fixed-checkpoint searches enjoyed judicial approval at least since 1963 (Fernandez v. United States, 321 F.2d 283 (9th Cir. 1963)) and apparent statutory authorization since 1946 (Act of Aug. 7, 1946, ch. 768, 60 Stat. 865.) Our rejection of fixed-checkpoint searches therefore “marks a sharp break in the web of the law,” Milton v. Wainwright, 407 U.S. 371, 381-382 n. 2, 92 S.Ct. 2174, 2180, 33 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971) (dissenting opinion of Stewart, J.), sufficient to deny retroactive application.
My concurrence is qualified, however, by the belief that Bowen himself should be entitled to the fruits of his appeal. He fully preserved his objections to the search of his camper-truck by the border patrol. He took his case all the way to the Supreme Court,- which reversed his conviction and remanded the case for reconsideration in light of Almeida-San-chez. Now, we tell Bowen that he was right, that searches at fixed checkpoints, supported by neither a warrant nor probable cause, are unconstitutional. Yet, we also tell him that because of a judicially created rule of nonretroactivity, he cannot take advantage of a ruling which he has fought for two years to obtain. However, regardless of the nonret-roactivity of our newly announced rule on fixed checkpoints, as the moving par*982ty in the case in which this new rule has been announced, Bowen is fully entitled to its protection. To prevent having our determination in Part I stand as mere dictum, as well as to comply with the “case or controversy” requirement of Article III of the Constitution, we must allow Bowen to benefit from our constitutional determination. See Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 301, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967). See also Desist v. United States, 394 U.S. 244, 254-255 n. 24, 89 S.Ct. 1030, 22 L.Ed.2d 248 (1969).
Circuit Judges MERRILL, BROWNING and DUNIWAY concur in this concurring and dissenting opinion.