Bowen v. United States

Background

A man driving a camper pickup was stopped at a Border Patrol traffic checkpoint on California Highway 86, about 36 air miles from the Mexican border. Officers checked that he was a U.S. citizen and asked him to open the camper so they could look for hidden immigrants. When he opened the camper, an officer smelled marijuana, went inside, and found about 356 pounds of the drug; later agents found benzedrine tablets inside the vehicle. He was convicted in federal court and the Ninth Circuit initially affirmed the conviction.

Reasoning

After the Supreme Court decided Almeida-Sanchez, which barred certain warrantless vehicle searches away from the border, this case posed the question whether that new rule must be applied to searches that happened before the decision. The Court noted that the Government did not claim the checkpoint was the same as the border, that officers had probable cause, or that the driver consented. Relying on its earlier decision in Peltier, the Court held that Almeida-Sanchez does not apply retroactively to this 1971 search because Border Patrol officers reasonably relied on prior appellate decisions that allowed checkpoint searches.

Real world impact

Because the Court refused to apply the new rule retroactively, evidence seized at this 1971 checkpoint remained usable and the conviction stood. The decision emphasizes that when law enforcement relied on existing appellate rulings, a later change in the law need not undo past convictions. The ruling leaves open the possibility that similar searches after Almeida-Sanchez could be invalid.

Dissents or concurrances

Several Justices dissented and expressed disagreement with the nonretroactivity outcome and would have reversed for the reasons stated in related dissents in Peltier.