Scott v. United States

436 U.S. 128 · Decided May 15, 1978 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Scott v. United States was decided on May 15, 1978 by a vote of 7–2. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Search and seizure, Crime Control Act” 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

Full case caption

Scott et al. v. United States

SCDB identifiers: case 1977-082, docket 1977-082-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Search and seizure, Crime Control Act”

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Cases on the same legal provision: Federal crime control and firearms statutes

• United States v. New York Telephone Co.
  434 U.S. 159Decided December 7, 19775–4Byron R. White
• Scarborough v. United States
  431 U.S. 563Decided June 6, 19777–1Thurgood Marshall
• Dunn v. United States
  442 U.S. 100Decided June 4, 19798–0Thurgood Marshall
• United States v. Batchelder
  442 U.S. 114Decided June 4, 19799–0Thurgood Marshall
• Lewis v. United States
  445 U.S. 55Decided February 27, 19806–3Harry A. Blackmun
• Busic v. United States
  446 U.S. 398Decided May 19, 19806–3William J. Brennan Jr.

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Rinaldi v. United States
  434 U.S. 22Decided November 7, 19776–3Per curiam
• Pennsylvania v. Mimms
  434 U.S. 106Decided December 5, 19776–3Per curiam
• United States v. New York Telephone Co.
  434 U.S. 159Decided December 7, 19775–4Byron R. White
• Moore v. Illinois
  434 U.S. 220Decided December 12, 19778–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• Smith v. Digmon
  434 U.S. 332Decided January 16, 19789–0Per curiam
• Bordenkircher v. Hayes
  434 U.S. 357Decided January 18, 19785–4Potter Stewart

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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