handed down today: New York v. Belton is not a "super precedent."

  Interestingly, though, the one Justice who was on the Court at the time of Belton has stayed pretty consistent. Justice Stevens did not sign on to the majority in Belton, and concurred in Belton only because he thought the automobile exception applied given the facts of that case. As he wrote in his dissent in Robbins v. California, handed down the same day as Belton, he thought at the time that the Belton rule erroneously "authorizes unreasonable searches of vehicles and containers without probable cause to believe that contraband will be found."

  Of course, Stevens did not have the votes for that back in 1981, before the Reagan and Bush appointees had arrived. Back in 1981, the likes of Justices Blackmun, Powell, and Stewart had control of the Court, and so the police were given a broad rule in their favor. It was not until these Justices retired, and were replaced with Reagan and Bush appointees like Scalia, Thomas, and Souter that Stevens would have the votes he needed to protect defendants with a more privacy-protective rule than could be mustered back in 1981.