Colorado v. Bertine
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 10, 1986 Decided January 14, 1987
Full case name	Colorado v. Steven Lee Bertine
Docket no.	85-889
Citations	479 U.S. 367 (more) 107 S. Ct. 738; 93 L. Ed. 2d 739
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	People v. Bertine, 706 P.2d 411 (Colo. 1985); cert. granted, 475 U.S. 1081 (1986).
Holding
The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the State from proving the criminal charges with the evidence discovered during the inventory search of respondent's van.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by White, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia
Concurrence	Blackmun, joined by Powell, O'Connor
Dissent	Marshall, joined by Brennan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. IV

Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367 (1987), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the State from proving charges with the evidence discovered during an inventory search.^[1]

This case is controlled by the principles governing inventory searches of automobiles and of an arrestee's personal effects, as set forth in South Dakota v. Opperman,^[2] and Illinois v. Lafayette,^[3] rather than those governing searches of closed trunks and suitcases conducted solely for the purpose of investigating criminal conduct. United States v. Chadwick,^[4] and Arkansas v. Sanders,^[5] distinguished.^[1]

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• Text of Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367 (1987) is available from: Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)