In Re Arturo D.

We granted review in these matters to determine whether, when a driver who has been detained for citation for a Vehicle *65 Code infraction fails to produce vehicle registration or personal identification documentation upon the request of the citing officer, the officer may conduct a warrantless search for such documentation, and, if so, the permissible scope of such a search. After briefing was complete, we consolidated these two matters for purposes of oral argument and opinion. We conclude that in these circumstances the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, permits limited warrantless searches of areas within a vehicle where such documentation reasonably may be expected to be found. Applying that standard, we conclude that the document searches in both cases were proper, and, accordingly, we reverse the judgment in In re Arturo D. (S085213), and affirm the judgment in People v. Hinger (S085218).

I.

A. In re Arturo D.

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on a weeknight in late August 1998, Suisun City Police Officer Rowe stopped minor Arturo D.’s extended cab truck, which had been traveling more than 70 miles…

The situation is a common one: A police officer stops a driver with the intention to issue a traffic citation for an infraction under state law. We address in this case the question whether an officer making such a stop may conduct a warrantless search of the driver’s vehicle without violating the driver’s right to be free of *88 unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The United States Supreme Court has established several ground rules for warrantless vehicle searches: An officer may search a car if he or she is arresting the driver (New York v. Belton (1981) 453 U.S. 454 [ 101 S.Ct. 2860 , 69 L.Ed.2d 768 ]), or if probable cause exists to believe the car contains evidence of a crime or contraband (Maryland v. Dyson (1999) 527 U.S. 465 [ 119 S.Ct. 2013 , 144 L.Ed.2d 442 ] (per curiam); Carroll v. United States (1925) 267 U.S. 132, 153, 155-156 [ 45 S.Ct. 280, 285-286 , 69 L.Ed. 543 , 39 A.L.R. 790 ]); subject to certain conditions, police also may search a car to inventory its contents when they are impounding it (South Dakota v. Opperman (1976) 428 U.S. 364 [ 96 S.Ct. 3092 , 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 ]). It is unconstitutional,…

With a few well-established exceptions, the federal Constitution’s Fourth Amendment prohibits a warrantless search without probable cause, as determined by the totality of circumstances known to the officer conducting the search. Today, the majority’s unprecedented decision creates a new exception allowing warrantless vehicle searches when a motorist stopped for a minor traffic violation cannot produce either a driver’s license or the vehicle’s registration. This holding flies in the face of Knowles v. Iowa (1998) 525 U.S. 113 [ 119 S.Ct. 484 , 142 L.Ed.2d 492 ], in which a unanimous United States Supreme Court refused to except from the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement a vehicle search incident to citing or ticketing the driver for a traffic offense.

The majority insists such warrantless searches are “limited” to areas within a car where identification documentation might reasonably be found. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 65.) Yet the facts of the two cases here suggest otherwise. In one case the officer reached behind and under a truck’s bench seat, and in the other the officer searched underneath the front passenger seat. The majority would go even further. It favors…

We granted review in these matters to determine whether, when a driver who has been detained for citation for a Vehicle Code infraction fails to produce vehicle registration or personal identification documentation upon the request of the citing officer, the officer may conduct a warrantless search for such documentation, and, if so, the permissible scope of such a search. After briefing was complete, we consolidated these two matters for purposes of oral argument and opinion. We conclude that in these circumstances the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, permits limited warrantless searches of areas within a vehicle where such documentation reasonably may be expected to be found. Applying that standard, we conclude that the document searches in both cases were proper, and, accordingly, we reverse the judgment in In re Arturo D. (S085213), and affirm the judgment in People v. Hinger (S085218).

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on a weeknight in late August 1998, Suisun City Police Officer Rowe stopped minor Arturo D.'s extended cab truck, which had been traveling more than 70 miles per hour in a 50…