Craft & Sheppard's Supreme Court Review
Fourth Amendment
In Virginia v. Moore, officers stopped a car and arrested the driver for driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor under Virginia law. Under state law, they should have issued a summons, not arrested him. They did not immediately search him. Later, he was searched, and officers found crack. When an officer has probable cause to believe a minor crime, even driving on a suspended license, was committed in his presence, under the Fourth Amendment, he may arrest the person. The search was incident to a lawful Fourth Amendment arrest. The Court upheld the search and seizure. A state law violation did convert the search into a Fourth Amendment violation.
