An arresting officer may search the arrestee's person to discover and remove weapons and to seize evidence to prevent its concealment or destruction, and may search 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

Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a police officer may use deadly force to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect only if the officer has a good-faith belief that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others

Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a police officer may stop a suspect on the street and frisk him or her without probable cause to arrest, if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime and has a reasonable belief that the person "may be armed and presently dangerous

Under the Fifth Amendment, any statements that a defendant in custody makes during an interrogation are admissible as evidence at a criminal trial only if law enforcement told the defendant of the right to remain silent and the right to speak with an attorney before the interrogation started, and the rights were either exercised or waived in a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent manner

The seizure is legal if the officer, in stopping and searching the vehicle, has reasonable or probable cause for believing that contraband liquor is being illegally transported in it

Segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court established that the Fourteenth Amendment creates a right for criminal defendants who cannot pay for their own lawyers to have the state appoint attorneys on their behalf.

The prosecution is not allowed to present evidence that law enforcement secured during a search that was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment

A claim of excessive force by law enforcement during an arrest, stop, or other seizure of an individual is subject to the objective reasonableness standard of the Fourth Amendment, rather than a substantive due process standard under the Fourteenth Amendment

The warrantless search of a car does not violate the Constitution. The mobility of the automobile makes it impracticable to get a search warrant. An officer may search when there is probable cause that a crime is being committed

Police may search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if it is reasonable to believe that the arrestee might access the vehicle at the time of the search or that the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest

The temporary detention of a motorist upon probable cause to believe that he has violated the traffic laws does not violate the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable seizures, even if a reasonable officer would not have stopped the motorist absent some additional law enforcement objective

The search of the hotel room by an FBI agent without a warrant but with the consent of the hotel management, after petitioner had relinquished the room, and the seizure of articles which petitioner had abandoned there were lawful, and such articles were properly admitted in evidence

it is constitutional for American police to "stop and frisk" a person they reasonably suspect to be armed and involved in a crime.

a slave who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States

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.

a police officer may not use deadly force against a fleeing, unarmed suspect. The fact that a suspect does not respond to commands to halt does not authorize an officer to shoot the suspect, if the officer reasonably believes that the suspect is unarmed

applies to the rights of suspect to remain silent or have an attorney present during custodial interviews/interrogations

Struck down "separate but equal"

the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial guaranteed all defendants facing imprisonment a right to an attorney, not just those in death penalty cases.

evidence obtained from an unreasonable search and seizure could not be used against the accused in criminal state court

USE OF FORCE

constitutionally appropriate levels of force, based on the unique circumstances of each case: severity of crime, threat, resisting arrest, evading arrest by flight

police using traffic infractions as a reason to stop vehicles in order to discover more serious crimes

There is nothing unlawful about seizing abandoned property in a hotel room and admitting it into evidence at trial

Chief Justice Taney wrote that enslaved people “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can, therefore, claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.”

(this decision was overturned by the 14th Amendment)