1969 U.S. Supreme Court case allowing the warrantless search of a lawfully arrested person

<i>Chimel v. California</i>

Chimel v. California

<p><i><b>Chimel v. California</b></i>, 395 U.S. 752 (1969), was a 1969 <a href="/en/United_States_Supreme_Court" title="United States Supreme Court" class="mw-redirect wl">United States Supreme Court</a> case in which the Court held that police officers <a href="/en/Arrest" title="Arrest" class="wl">arresting</a> a person at home could not <a href="/en/Search_and_seizure" title="Search and seizure" class="wl">search</a> the entire home without a <a href="/en/Search_warrant" title="Search warrant" class="wl">search warrant</a>, but police may search the area within immediate reach of the person <a href="/en/Warrantless_searches_in_the_United_States" title="Warrantless searches in the United States" class="wl">without a warrant</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> The rule on <a href="/en/Searches_incident_to_a_lawful_arrest" title="Searches incident to a lawful arrest" class="wl">searches incident to a lawful arrest</a> within the home is now known as the <i>Chimel</i> Rule.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">1969 U.S. Supreme Court case allowing the warrantless search of a lawfully arrested person</div>
<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt2">1969 United States Supreme Court case</div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Chimel v. California, Argued March 27, 1969 D...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox scotus mobile-collapse-element" style="line-height: 1.4em"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above fn notheme" style="background-color: #99c0ff; padding: 0.2em; line-height: 1.4em; font-size:125%; font-style: italic">Chimel v. California</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span><span><img loading="lazy" alt="Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg/100px-Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="720" data-file-height="720" data-file-type="drawing" height="100" width="100" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg/150px-Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg/200px-Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg.png 2x"></span></span><div class="infobox-caption" style="padding-top: 0.5em; font-weight: bold"><a href="/en/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States" title="Supreme Court of the United States" class="wl">Supreme Court of the United States</a></div></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color: #99c0ff; white-space:nowrap">Argued March 27, 1969<br>Decided June 23, 1969</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Full case name</th><td class="infobox-data"><i>Ted Chimel v. State of California</i></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Citations</th><td class="infobox-data">395 <a href="/en/United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports" class="wl">U.S.</a> <a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://supreme.justia.com/us/395/752/case.html" class="external text" target="_blank">752</a> (<i><a href="/en/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases,_volume_395" title="List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 395" class="wl">more</a></i>)<div>89 S. Ct. 2034; 23 <a href="/en/Lawyers'_Edition" title="Lawyers' Edition" class="wl">L. Ed. 2d</a> 685; 1959 <a href="/en/LexisNexis" title="LexisNexis" class="wl">U.S. LEXIS</a> 1166</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Argument</th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1968/1968_770/argument/" class="external text" target="_blank">Oral argument</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color: #99c0ff; white-space:nowrap">Case history</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Prior</th><td class="infobox-data">Conviction affirmed, <i>People v. Chimel</i>, 61 Cal. Rptr. 714 (Ct. App. 1967); affirmed, 68 Cal. 2d 436, 439 <a href="/en/P.2d" title="P.2d" class="mw-redirect wl">P.2d</a> <a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://www.leagle.com/decision/196850468cal2d4361470" class="external text" target="_blank">333</a> (1968); <a href="/en/Certiorari" title="Certiorari" class="wl">cert.</a> granted, <a href="/en/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases,_volume_393" title="List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 393" class="wl">393</a><span> </span><a href="/en/United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports" class="wl">U.S.</a> 958<span> </span>(1968).</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Subsequent</th><td class="infobox-data">Rehearing denied, <a href="/en/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases,_volume_396" title="List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 396" class="wl">396</a><span> </span><a href="/en/United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports" class="wl">U.S.</a> 869<span> </span>(1969).</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color: #99c0ff; white-space:nowrap">Holding</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data">An arresting officer may search only the area "within the immediate control" of the person arrested, meaning the area from which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence. Any other search of the surrounding area requires a search warrant.</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color: #99c0ff; white-space:nowrap">Court membership</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><dl style="margin:0; padding:0.1em 0.5em; text-align:center; line-height:1.3em;">
<dt style="margin:0;">Chief Justice</dt>
<dd style="margin:0 0 0.3em;"><a href="/en/Earl_Warren" title="Earl Warren" class="wl">Earl Warren</a>
</dd>
<dt style="margin:0;">Associate Justices</dt>
<dd style="margin:0;"><a href="/en/Hugo_Black" title="Hugo Black" class="wl">Hugo Black</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span> <a href="/en/William_O._Douglas" title="William O. Douglas" class="wl">William O. Douglas</a><br><a href="/en/John_Marshall_Harlan_(born_1899)" title="John Marshall Harlan (born 1899)" class="mw-redirect wl">John M. Harlan II</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span> <a href="/en/William_J._Brennan_Jr." title="William J. Brennan Jr." class="wl">William J. Brennan Jr.</a><br><a href="/en/Potter_Stewart" title="Potter Stewart" class="wl">Potter Stewart</a><span>&nbsp;</span><b><span>·</span></b><span> </span> <a href="/en/Byron_White" title="Byron White" class="wl">Byron White</a><br><a href="/en/Thurgood_Marshall" title="Thurgood Marshall" class="wl">Thurgood Marshall</a>
</dd></dl></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color: #99c0ff; white-space:nowrap">Case opinions</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Majority</th><td class="infobox-data">Stewart, joined by Warren, Douglas, Harlan, Brennan, Marshall</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Concurrence</th><td class="infobox-data">Harlan</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Dissent</th><td class="infobox-data">White, joined by Black</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color: #99c0ff; white-space:nowrap">Laws applied</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><a href="/en/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution" class="wl">U.S. Const. amend. IV</a><br><a href="/en/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution" class="wl">U.S. Const. amend. XIV</a></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>
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<div style="margin-left: 10px;"><b><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Special:Search/Chimel%20v.%20California" title="wikisource:Special:Search/Chimel v. California" class="extiw" target="_blank">Chimel v. California</a></b></div></div></div>
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<p><a href="/en/Ronald_M._George" title="Ronald M. George" class="wl">Ronald M. George</a>, the young Deputy <a href="/en/Attorney_General_of_California" title="Attorney General of California" class="wl">Attorney General</a> who unsuccessfully argued the State of California's position before the high court, ultimately became <a href="/en/Supreme_Court_of_California" title="Supreme Court of California" class="wl">Chief Justice of the State of California</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span></p>


Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752 , was a 1969 United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that police officers arresting a person at home could not search the entire home without a search warrant, but police may search the area within immediate reach of the person without a warrant. Ronald M. George, the young Deputy Attorney General who unsuccessfully argued the State of California's position before the high court, ultimately became Chief Justice of the State of California. 