No. 25-6326

Eric Lebron Burney v. United States

Lower Court: Sixth Circuit
Docketed: 2025-12-09
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: controlled-substance fourth-amendment law-enforcement marijuana probable-cause search-and-seizure
Key Terms:
FourthAmendment CriminalProcedure Patent Privacy
Latest Conference: 2026-01-09
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Does the smell of legal, low-THC marijuana provide probable cause for law enforcement to conduct an extensive search behind the internal framing and upholstery of an automobile?

Question Presented (from Petition)

By April of 2019 both the state of Tennessee and the federal government excluded low-THC (delta-9 marijuana from the definition of illegal “marijuana” as a controlled substance. That resulted in the proliferation of legal, low-THC marijuana products (often termed “hemp” by statute), which look, smell, and smoke the same as the illegal, high-THC variant of the same plant. The question presented here is: Does the smell of legal, low-THC marijuana provide probable cause for law enforcement to conduct an extensive search behind the internal framing and upholstery of an automobile?

Docket Entries

2026-01-12
Petition DENIED.
2025-12-17
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
2025-12-11
Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
2025-12-06
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 8, 2026)
2025-09-30
Application (25A370) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until December 6, 2025.
2025-09-26
Application (25A370) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 7, 2025 to December 6, 2025, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.

Attorneys

Eric Burney
Erin Alix Phillippi RustFederal Defender Services of Eastern TN, Inc., Petitioner
Erin Alix Phillippi RustFederal Defender Services of Eastern TN, Inc., Petitioner
United States
D. John SauerSolicitor General, Respondent
D. John SauerSolicitor General, Respondent