Cite as: 518 U. S. 938 (1996)
Stevens, J., dissenting
453 U. S. 454 (1981), on state constitutional grounds. See
543 Pa., at 54-58, 669 A. 2d, at 901-903.4
Notably, the Commonwealth has not asked this Court to review the Pennsylvania court's decision in White, even though the search in that case would be affirmed under the Commonwealth's and this Court's understanding of Pennsylvania's holding regarding exigent circumstances. I also note that lower state courts have explicitly read White as establishing a state constitutional right, not a federal right. Commonwealth v. Haskins, 450 Pa. Super. 540, 545, 677 A. 2d 328, 330 (1996) ("In order to search an automobile without a warrant, the police must still show the existence of both probable cause and exigent circumstances. Commonwealth v. White, 543 Pa. 45, 669 A. 2d 896 (1995). . . . In White, our Supreme Court reiterated that the Pennsylvania Constitution requires such a showing"); see also Commonwealth v. Yedinak, 450 Pa. Super. 352, 359, n. 5, 676 A. 2d 1217, 1220, n. 5 (1996) ("The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently held that the Pennsylvania Constitution provides greater protection than the United States Constitution with regard to automobile searches in Commonwealth v. White").
The lower courts' understanding regarding the state-law nature of White—and my understanding of the state-law nature of Labron as well—is almost perfectly reflected in the dissents to each case that were penned by Justice Castille. In both instances, Justice Castille recognizes, even more explicitly than the majority, that the decisions were based on state law.
In Labron, for instance, his main point was that the defendant had no standing to challenge the constitutionality of
4 Although the court's main opinion in Commonwealth v. White also asked whether the search would have been permissible as a search incident to an arrest, the dissent later noted that the only question presented in the appeal was whether "exigent circumstances" were necessary to permit a warrantless search of a car based on probable cause. See 543 Pa., at 72-73, 669 A. 2d, at 910.
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