United States v. Montoya de Hernandez

473 U.S. 531 · Decided July 1, 1985 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

United States v. Montoya de Hernandez was decided on July 1, 1985 by a vote of 7–2. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice William H. Rehnquist 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

Full case caption

United States v. Montoya de Hernandez

SCDB identifiers: case 1984-160, docket 1984-160-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Search and seizure (general)”

• Maryland v. Macon
  472 U.S. 463Decided June 17, 19857–2Sandra Day O'Connor
• Tennessee v. GarnerLaw held unconstitutional
  471 U.S. 1Decided March 27, 19856–3Byron R. White
• United States v. Sharpe
  470 U.S. 675Decided March 20, 19857–2Warren E. Burger
• Winston v. Lee
  470 U.S. 753Decided March 20, 19859–0William J. Brennan Jr.
• Hayes v. Florida
  470 U.S. 811Decided March 20, 19858–0Byron R. White
• New Jersey v. T. L. O.
  469 U.S. 325Decided January 15, 19856–3Byron R. White

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Cases on the same legal provision: Fourth Amendment

• California v. Carney
  471 U.S. 386Decided May 13, 19856–3Warren E. Burger
• Lanier v. South Carolina
  474 U.S. 25Decided November 4, 19858–1Per curiam
• United States v. Johns
  469 U.S. 478Decided January 21, 19857–2Sandra Day O'Connor
• New York v. Class
  475 U.S. 106Decided February 25, 19865–4Sandra Day O'Connor
• Florida v. Meyers
  466 U.S. 380Decided April 23, 19846–3Per curiam
• Colorado v. Bertine
  479 U.S. 367Decided January 14, 19877–2William H. Rehnquist

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Florida v. Rodriguez
  469 U.S. 1Decided November 13, 19846–3Per curiam
• Thompson v. Louisiana
  469 U.S. 17Decided November 26, 19849–0Per curiam
• Luce v. United States
  469 U.S. 38Decided December 10, 19848–0Warren E. Burger
• United States v. Abel
  469 U.S. 45Decided December 10, 19849–0William H. Rehnquist
• United States v. Powell
  469 U.S. 57Decided December 10, 19849–0William H. Rehnquist
• Garcia v. United States
  469 U.S. 70Decided December 10, 19846–3William H. Rehnquist

See all

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