Florida v. Casal
| Decision Date | 17 June 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-2318,81-2318 |
| Citation | 77 L.Ed.2d 277,103 S.Ct. 3100,462 U.S. 637 |
| Parties | FLORIDA, petitioner, v. Constantino CASAL and Omar Garcia |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
On writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Florida.
The writ is dismissed as improvidently granted, it appearing that the judgment of the court below rested on independent and adequate state grounds.
The Court today concludes that the Florida Supreme Court relied on independent and adequate state grounds when it affirmed the suppression of over 100 pounds of marijuana discovered aboard a fishing vessel—the evidence upon which respondents' convictions for possession and importation of marijuana were based. The Florida Supreme Court did not expressly declare that its holding rested on state grounds, and the principal state case cited for the probable cause standard, Florida v. Smith, 233 So.2d 396 (Fla.1970), is based entirely upon this Court's interpretation of the Fourth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. I write not to challenge today's determination that the State Court relied on independent and adequate state grounds, however, but rather to emphasize that this Court has decided that Florida law, and not federal law or any decision of this Court, is responsible for the untoward result in this case.
The two bases of state law upon which the Florida Supreme Court appears to have relied are Art. 1, § 12 of the State Constitution and Florida Statute § 371.58 (1977), currently codified at Florida Statute § 327.56 (1983 Supp.). Article 1, § 12 of the Florida Constitution is similar to the Fourth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. I question that anything in the language of either the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution or Art. 1, § 12 of the Florida Constitution required suppression of the drugs as evidence. However, the Florida Supreme Court apparently concluded that state law required suppression of the evidence, independent of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The people of Florida have since shown acute awareness of the means to prevent such inconsistent interpretations of the two constitutional provisions. In the general elect on of November 2, 1982, the people of Florida amended Art. 1, § 12 of the State Constitution. That section now provides:
As amended, that section ensures that the Florida courts will no longer be able to rely on the State Constitution to suppress evidence that would be admissible under the decisions of the Supreme Court of the...
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