774
OCTOBER TERM, 2000
Syllabus
certiorari to the supreme court of florida
No. 00-391. Argued April 25, 2001—Decided June 4, 2001
While officers were investigating marijuana sales and making arrests at a Florida home, respondent Thomas drove up, parked in the home's driveway, and walked toward the back of his car. An officer met him there and asked his name and whether he had a driver's license. After a check of Thomas' license revealed an outstanding warrant, the officer arrested him, handcuffed him, and took him inside the home. The officer then went back outside, alone, and searched Thomas' car, finding several bags containing methamphetamine. Thomas was charged with possession of that drug and related offenses. The trial court granted his motion to suppress the evidence of narcotics and narcotic paraphernalia. The Second District Court of Appeal reversed, finding the search valid under New York v. Belton, 453 U. S. 454, in which this Court established a "bright-line" rule permitting an officer who has made a lawful custodial arrest of a car's occupant to search the car's passenger compartment as a contemporaneous incident of the arrest. Holding that Belton did not apply, the Florida Supreme Court reversed, but remanded for the trial court to determine whether the vehicle search was justified under Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752. This Court granted certiorari to consider whether, as the State Supreme Court had held, Belton's bright-line rule is limited to situations where the officer initiates contact with a vehicle's occupant while that person remains in the vehicle.
Held: The Court lacks jurisdiction to decide the question on which certiorari was granted. Although the parties did not raise the issue in their briefs on the merits, this Court must first consider whether it has jurisdiction to decide this case. See Duquesne Light Co. v. Barasch, 488 U. S. 299, 306. Title 28 U. S. C. § 1257(a) authorizes this Court to review "[f]inal judgments . . . by the highest court of a State . . . where any . . . right . . . is specially set up or claimed under the Constitution." In a criminal prosecution, finality generally is defined by a judgment of conviction and the imposition of a sentence. Fort Wayne Books, Inc. v. Indiana, 489 U. S. 46, 54. However, in certain circumstances, the Court has treated state-court judgments as final for jurisdictional purposes even though further proceedings were to take place in the state court. Flynt v. Ohio, 451 U. S. 619, 620-621. In Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469, 479-483, the Court divided cases of this
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