Arkansas v. Sanders

This case presents the question whether, in the absence of exigent circumstances, police are required to obtain a warrant before searching luggage taken from an automobile properly stopped and searched for contraband. We took this case by writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Arkansas to resolve some apparent misunderstanding as to the application of our decision in United States v. Chadwick, 433 U. S. 1 (1977), to warrantless searches of luggage seized from automobiles.1

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On April 23, 1976, Officer David Isom of the Little Rock, Ark., Police Department received word from an informant…