Discussion:

The Supreme Court held that when the arrested person is in a motor vehicle, the police "may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that automobile," and the police "may also examine the contents of any containers found within the passenger compartment." Examine this scenario: a driver gets stopped for exceeding the speed limit and if found to have a revoked drivers license (which is an arrest able offense). The driver is arrested for the revoked license and the officer searched the passenger compartment and finds an open container of alcoholic beverage (which theretofore, he had no suspicion of). The officer seizes the evidence and subsequently charges the driver with open container. Is this permissible under what you have learned about vehicle stops and seizures? Why or why not?