United States v. New York Telephone Co.

434 U.S. 159 · Decided December 7, 1977 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

United States v. New York Telephone Co. was decided on December 7, 1977 by a vote of 5–4. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. 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

Full case caption

United States v. New York Telephone Co.

SCDB identifiers: case 1977-016, docket 1977-016-01.

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Other cases on “Search and seizure (general)”

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

• Scott v. United States
  436 U.S. 128Decided May 15, 19787–2William H. Rehnquist
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  429 U.S. 413Decided January 18, 19776–3Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• 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
• Barrett v. United States
  423 U.S. 212Decided January 13, 19766–2Harry A. Blackmun

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
• 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
• Arizona v. Washington
  434 U.S. 497Decided February 21, 19786–3John Paul Stevens

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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