United States v. Watson

423 U.S. 411 · Decided January 26, 1976 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

United States v. Watson was decided on January 26, 1976 by a vote of 6–2. 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, vehicles” 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: John Paul Stevens.

Full case caption

United States v. Watson

SCDB identifiers: case 1975-032, docket 1975-032-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Search and seizure, vehicles”

• Texas v. White
  423 U.S. 67Decided December 1, 19756–2Per curiam
• South Dakota v. Opperman
  428 U.S. 364Decided July 6, 19765–4Warren E. Burger
• United States v. Martinez-Fuerte
  428 U.S. 543Decided July 6, 19767–2Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• United States v. Brignoni-Ponce
  422 U.S. 873Decided June 30, 19759–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.
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  422 U.S. 891Decided June 30, 19759–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.
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  433 U.S. 1Decided June 21, 19777–2Warren E. Burger

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Cases on the same legal provision: Fourth Amendment

• United States v. Miller
  425 U.S. 435Decided April 21, 19767–2Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• United States v. Santana
  427 U.S. 38Decided June 24, 19767–2William H. Rehnquist
• Gerstein v. Pugh
  420 U.S. 103Decided February 18, 19759–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• G. M. Leasing Corp. v. United States
  429 U.S. 338Decided January 12, 19779–0Harry A. Blackmun
• United States v. Ramsey
  431 U.S. 606Decided June 6, 19776–3William H. Rehnquist
• Air Pollution Variance Board of Colorado v. Western Alfalfa Corp.
  416 U.S. 861Decided May 20, 19749–0William O. Douglas

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Rose v. Hodges
  423 U.S. 19Decided November 11, 19756–3Per curiam
• Menna v. New York
  423 U.S. 61Decided November 17, 19755–3Per curiam
• Dillingham v. United States
  423 U.S. 64Decided December 1, 19757–1Per curiam
• Texas v. White
  423 U.S. 67Decided December 1, 19756–2Per curiam
• Michigan v. Mosley
  423 U.S. 96Decided December 9, 19756–2Potter Stewart
• United States v. Moore
  423 U.S. 122Decided December 9, 19758–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.

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