Cite as: 536 U. S. 635 (2002)
Per Curiam
without a warrant absent exigent circumstances. The Court of Appeal acknowledged petitioner's argument: "[Petitioner] makes a long argument that there were not exigent circumstances for entering the apartment without a warrant." Id., at 2, 773 So. 2d, at 261. The court, however, declined to decide whether exigent circumstances had been present, because "the evidence required to prove that the defendant possessed cocaine with the intent to distribute, namely the cocaine and the money, was not found in the apartment, but on his person." Ibid. The court concluded that because "[t]he officers had probable cause to arrest and properly searched the defendant incident thereto . . . [, t]he trial court properly denied the motion to suppress." Id., at 4, 773 So. 2d, at 263.
The Louisiana Supreme Court denied review by a vote of 4 to 3. In a written dissent, Chief Justice Calogero explained:
"The Fourth Amendment to the United States constitution has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the home, and thus, the police need both probable cause to either arrest or search and exigent circumstances to justify a nonconsensual warrantless intrusion into private premises. . . . Here, the defendant was arrested inside an apartment, without a warrant, and the state has not demonstrated that exigent circumstances were present. Consequently, defendant's arrest was unconstitutional, and his motion to suppress should have been granted." App. to Pet. for Cert. 1-2.
We agree with Chief Justice Calogero that the Court of Appeal clearly erred by concluding that petitioner's arrest and the search "incident thereto," 00-0190, at 4, 773 So. 2d, at 263, were constitutionally permissible. In Payton, we examined whether the Fourth Amendment was violated by a state statute that authorized officers to "enter a private residence without a warrant and with force, if necessary, to make a routine felony arrest." 445 U. S., at 574. We deter-
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