Find Court Cases > Wainwright v. City of New Orleans

Wainwright v. City of New Orleans

Case Date: 10/09/1967
Docket No: none

Facts of the Case 

On October 12, 1964, Wainwright, a student at Tulane University Law School, was out walking around midnight. Two New Orleans Police Department officers stopped him because, in their opinion, he fitted the description of a man suspected of murder. Wainwright told the officers he had identification at home, but not on his person. The officers then asked Wainwright to remove this jacket so that they could search him for a tattoo that the suspected murdered had on his left arm. Wainwright ultimately refused to do so after trying to walk away and some mild verbal sparing. The officers then arrested him on a charge of vagrancy by loitering and frisked him. After Wainwright continued to refuse to remove his jacket at the police station, officers used force to remove it and discovered that he had no tattoo.

Question 

Must a person who is unconstitutionally arrested submit to a search of his person? May he offer token resistance?

Argument Wainwright v. City of New Orleans - Oral Argument, Part 2  Download MP3Wainwright v. City of New Orleans - Oral Argument, Part 1  Download MP3 Conclusion  Decision: 7 votes for City of New Orleans, 1 vote(s) against Legal provision: Writ Improvidently Granted

In a per curiam opinion, the Court dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted.