New Federal Protection for Your Car? Yes!
Today, in the case of Arizona v. Gant, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed years of decisions and prohibited the search of your car after you are arrested and sitting the back of the police car.
For years, the rule in federal cases has been that if your car is lawfully pulled over, and you are subsequently lawfully arrested, the police could search the entire interior of your car. Suprisingly, Pennsylvania law remained much more protective of your privacy interest in your car. In a 1995 case called Commonwealth v. White, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the police could only search your person and the area immediately around you after your arrest. Not the back seat. Not the glove compartment. Just the area immediately around you. And if you were handcuffed, sitting in the backseat of the police cruiser, the police could not search any part of your car, and none of the car was immediately around you.
Now the U.S. Supreme Court has followed Pennsylvania's lead almost exactly, declaring that, "Police may search a vehicle incident to an arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the arrest." Again, no search if you are sitting on the curb in handcuffs.
The only exception to this if they think evidence of what you were arrested for can be found in the car. If you were just speeding or your tail light was out, or your license was suspended like Mr. Grant's, then no evidence can be found in your car.
