Scher v. United States

Background

A man was charged and convicted under the federal Liquor Taxing Act for possessing and transporting distilled spirits in containers lacking revenue stamps. Federal revenue officers received a confidential tip and watched a described car visit a house late at night. They saw a man and three women get in with a package, observed the car return with activity suggesting heavy packages, then followed the car as it stopped near the man’s home and entered an open garage behind the house. An officer approached, announced his authority, and the man said the liquor was “just a little for a party,” that it was Canadian whiskey, and that it was in the trunk. The officer opened the trunk without a search warrant and found eighty-eight unstamped bottles; the man was arrested and both the car and liquor were seized. At trial the defense tried to force disclosure of the informant’s identity and to suppress the evidence; those requests were denied, and lower courts affirmed.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether the officers’ actions were lawful and whether the informant’s identity mattered. It explained the officers’ authority turned on what they personally observed and heard, not on the confidential tip’s source. Applying earlier decisions about vehicle searches, the Court held officers could stop the car and search the vehicle and trunk under the circumstances, and that moving into the open garage did not eliminate that right. Because the search and arrest were reasonable, the conviction stands.

Real world impact

The ruling means officers may rely on their own observations and a suspect’s statements to search a car and seize unstamped liquor without a warrant in similar circumstances. People transporting untaxed spirits face increased risk of search and seizure, and defendants generally cannot force disclosure of an informer absent special need.