Pennsylvania v. Labron, 518 U.S. 938, 12 (1996) (per curiam)

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Cite as: 518 U. S. 938 (1996)

Stevens, J., dissenting

added). The dissents below also relied explicitly and exclusively on decisions of this Court. Id., at 1037, n. 2; Michigan v. Long, 413 Mich. 461, 473-486, 320 N. W. 2d 866, 870- 875 (1982) (Coleman, C. J., dissenting, Moody, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Indeed, the critical holding of the Court was that the Michigan "Court of Appeals erroneously applied the principles of Terry v. Ohio." Id., at 471, 320 N. W. 2d, at 869 (citation omitted).7 The opinion in these cases presents almost precisely the opposite situation: The decision refers to the Federal Constitution once, but otherwise relies exclusively on state law.

For these reasons, just as the decision in White would not merit summary reversal were it before this Court, the decision in Labron should not be summarily reversed. Although Labron and White both touch upon, and even place some historical reliance upon, federal search and seizure law, each also recognizes the broad interpretation that the Pennsylvania court has given its own constitutional prohibition against warrantless searches. I therefore seriously ques-7 On the many subsequent occasions in which this Court has taken jurisdiction over state decisions over which there was some dispute about the nature of the relationship between federal and state law, the state opinions were far more "interwoven" with federal law than is true in these cases. See, e. g., Illinois v. Rodriguez, 497 U. S. 177, 182 (1990) (decision below did not "rely on (or even mention) any specific provision" of State Constitution); Pennsylvania v. Muniz, 496 U. S. 582, 588, n. 4 (1990) (state constitutional provision construed to provide protections identical to Federal Constitution); Florida v. Riley, 488 U. S. 445, 448, n. 1 (1989) (decision below mentioned State Constitution only twice, but "focused exclusively on federal cases dealing with the Fourth Amendment"); Michigan v. Chesternut, 486 U. S. 567, 571, n. 3 (1988) (decision below "said nothing to suggest that the Michigan Constitution's seizure provision provided an independent source of relief, and the court's entire analysis rested expressly on the Fourth Amendment and federal cases"); Kentucky v. Stincer, 482 U. S. 730, 735, n. 7 (1987) (decision below "consistently referred to respondent's rights under the . . . Federal Constitution as supporting its ruling"); Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U. S. 79, 83-84 (1987) (State Constitution construed in pari materia with Federal Constitution).

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