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Syllabus
after Brown was arrested. The arrest of one person does not mean that everyone around him has been seized. Even after arresting Brown, Lang provided Drayton with no indication that he was required to answer Lang's questions. Pp. 203-206.
(c) Respondents were not subjected to an unreasonable search. Where, as here, the question of voluntariness pervades both the search and seizure inquiries, the respective analyses turn on very similar facts. For the foregoing reasons, respondents' consent to the search of their luggage and their persons was voluntary. When respondents told Lang they had a bag, he asked to check it. And when he asked to search their persons, he inquired first if they objected, thus indicating to a reasonable person that he or she was free to refuse. Moreover, officers need not always inform citizens of their right to refuse when seeking permission to conduct a warrantless consent search. See, e. g., Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U. S. 218, 227. While knowledge of the right to refuse is taken into account, the Government need not establish such knowledge as the sine qua non of an effective consent. Ibid. Nor does a presumption of invalidity attach if a citizen consented without explicit notification that he or she was free to refuse to cooperate. Instead, the totality of the circumstances controls, without giving extra weight to whether this type of warning was given. See, e. g., Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U. S. 33, 39-40. Although Lang did not give such a warning, the totality of the circumstances indicates that respondents' consent was voluntary, and the searches were reasonable. Pp. 206-208.
231 F. 3d 787, reversed and remanded.
Kennedy, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Scalia, Thomas, and Breyer, JJ., joined. Souter, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stevens and Ginsburg, JJ., joined, post, p. 208.
Larry D. Thompson argued the cause for the United States. On the briefs were Solicitor General Olson, Assistant Attorney General Chertoff, Deputy Solicitor General Dreeben, Jeffrey A. Lamken, and Kathleen A. Felton.
Gwendolyn Spivey, by appointment of the Court, 535 U. S. 903, argued the cause for respondents. With her on the brief were Randolph P. Murrell, Steven L. Seliger, by ap-
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