Cite as: 532 U. S. 774 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
that Belton was inapplicable, and directed that the trial court determine "whether the factors in Chimel [v. California, 395 U. S. 752 (1969),] justify the search of Thomas' vehicle." 761 So. 2d, at 1014. The court explained that "[b]ased on the record . . . we are unable to ascertain whether [the officer's] safety was endangered or whether the preservation of the evidence was in jeopardy," as necessary to justify the search under Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752 (1969), and remanded for further proceedings.
Although the parties did not raise the issue in their briefs on the merits, we must first consider whether we have jurisdiction to decide this case. See Duquesne Light Co. v. Barasch, 488 U. S. 299, 306 (1989). Title 28 U. S. C. § 1257(a) authorizes this Court to review "[f]inal judgments or decrees rendered by the highest court of a State in which a decision could be had . . . where any title, right, privilege, or immunity 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 (1989). But we have not, in practice, interpreted the finality rule so strictly. In certain circumstances, we have "treated state-court judgments as final for jurisdictional purposes although there were further proceedings to take place in the state court." Flynt v. Ohio, 451 U. S. 619, 620-621 (1981) (per curiam). In Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469 (1975), we divided cases of this kind into four categories. None fits the judgment of the Florida Supreme Court, however, and we therefore conclude that its judgment is not final.
The first Cox category includes those cases in which "there are further proceedings—even entire trials—yet to occur in the state courts but where for one reason or another the federal issue is conclusive or the outcome of further proceedings preordained." Id., at 479. The prototypical example of this category is Mills v. Alabama, 384 U. S. 214 (1966). There the Supreme Court of Alabama held that a statute
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