California v. Greenwood

486 U.S. 35 · Decided May 16, 1988 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

California v. Greenwood was decided on May 16, 1988 by a vote of 6–2. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Byron R. White wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Search and seizure (general)” in the Criminal Procedure area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Did not participate: Anthony M. Kennedy.

Full case caption

California v. Greenwood et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1987-079, docket 1987-079-01.

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Other cases on “Search and seizure (general)”

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Cases on the same legal provision: Fourth Amendment

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  479 U.S. 367Decided January 14, 19877–2William H. Rehnquist
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  495 U.S. 1Decided April 18, 19909–0William H. Rehnquist
• Alabama v. Vanessa Rose White
  496 U.S. 325Decided June 11, 19906–3Byron R. White
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  496 U.S. 444Decided June 14, 19906–3William H. Rehnquist
• New York v. Class
  475 U.S. 106Decided February 25, 19865–4Sandra Day O'Connor

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Carpenter v. United States
  484 U.S. 19Decided November 16, 19878–0Byron R. White
• Yates v. Aiken
  484 U.S. 211Decided January 12, 19888–0John Paul Stevens
• Lowenfield v. Phelps
  484 U.S. 231Decided January 13, 19885–3William H. Rehnquist
• Taylor v. Illinois
  484 U.S. 400Decided January 25, 19885–3John Paul Stevens
• United States v. Owens
  484 U.S. 554Decided February 23, 19886–2Antonin Scalia
• United States v. Thomas O. Robinson, Jr.
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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error