United States v. Villamonte-marquez et al. (462 U.S. 579)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 462 U.S. 579 · 103 S. Ct. 2573
- Decided
- June 17, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. Congress has provided that “[a]ny officer of the customs may at any time go on board of any vessel... at any place in the United States . . . and examine the manifest and other documents and papers . . . and to this end may hail and stop such vessel . . . and use all necessary force to compel compliance.” 46 Stat. 747, as amended, 19 U. S. C. § 1581(a). We are asked to decide whether the Fourth Amendment is offended when customs officials, acting pursuant to this statute and without any suspicion of wrongdoing, board for inspection of documents a vessel that is located in waters providing ready access to the open sea. Near midday on March 6, 1980, customs officers, accompanied by Louisiana state policemen, were patrolling the Calca-sieu River Ship Channel, some 18 miles inland from the gulf coast, when they sighted the Henry Morgan II, a 40-foot sailboat, anchored facing east on the west side of the channel. The Calcasieu River Ship Channel is a north-south waterway connecting the Gulf of Mexico with Lake Charles, Louisiana. Lake Charles, located in the southwestern corner of Louisiana, is a designated Customs Port of Entry in the Houston, Texas Region. While there is access to the channel from Louisiana’s Calcasieu Lake, the channel is a separate thoroughfare to the west of the lake which all vessels moving between Lake…
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