Olmstead v. United States
| Olmstead v. United States | |
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| Argued February 20–21, 1928 Decided June 4, 1928 |
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| Full case name | Olmstead et al. v. United States; Green et al. v. United States; McInnis v. United States. |
| Citations | 277 U.S. 438 (more)
48 S. Ct. 564; 67 L. Ed. 785; 1923 U.S. LEXIS 2588; 24 A.L.R. 1238
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| Prior history | Defendants convicted, 5 F.2d 712 (W.D. Wash. 1925); affirmed, 19 F.2d 842 (9th Cir. 1927) |
| Subsequent history | None |
| Holding | |
| The Fourth Amendment's proscription on unreasonable search and seizure did not apply to wiretaps. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Taft, joined by McReynolds, Sanford, Sutherland, Van Devanter |
| Concur/dissent | Holmes |
| Dissent | Brandeis |
| Dissent | Stone |
| Dissent | Butler |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. IV, V | |
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Overruled by
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| Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967) | |
Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, in which the Court reviewed whether the use of wiretapped private telephone conversations, obtained by federal agents without judicial approval and subsequently used as evidence, constituted a violation of the defendant’s rights provided by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that neither the Fourth Amendment nor the Fifth Amendment rights of the defendant were violated. This decision was later overturned by Katz v. United States in 1967.
Until 1914, the American judicial system, including the Supreme Court of the United States, largely followed the precepts of English common law when it came to matters dealing with the validity of introducing evidence in criminal trials. In most cases, the general philosophy was that the process by which the evidence was obtained had little, if anything to do with the permissibility of its use in court. The only limiting factor was that the police agents could not break the law to seize the evidence; however, since what is now illegal seizure was then permitted by the courts, it rarely presented a significant challenge.
In 1914, however, in the landmark case of Weeks v. United States, the Court held unanimously that illegal seizure of items from a private residence was a violation of the Fourth Amendment, and established the exclusionary rule that prohibits admission of illegally obtained evidence in federal courts. Because the Bill of Rights did not at the time extend to cover states, such a prohibition extended only to federal agents and covered only federal trials. It was not until the case of Mapp v. Ohio (1961) that the exclusionary rule was extended to state courts as well.
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