Home > Great American Court Cases > James v. Illinois

Legal Citation: 493 U.S. 307 (1990)

Petitioners
Darryl James, et al.

Respondents
State of Illinois, et al.

Petitioners' Claim
That the state should be allowed to use illegally obtained evidence to impeach the credibility of defense witnesses.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioners
Martin S. Carlson

Chief Lawyer for Respondents
Terence M. Madsen

Justices for the Court
Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., (writing for the Court), Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
10 January 1990

Decision
Upheld the inadmissibility of illegally obtained evidence.

Significance
Maintained the exclusionary...