Home > Great American Court Cases > Olmstead v. United States

Legal Citation: 277 U.S. 438 (1928)

Petitioners
Roy Olmstead, et al.

Respondent
United States

Petitioners' Claim
That the government's use of evidence obtained through illegal wiretaps violated his Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure and his right under the Fifth Amendment not to incriminate himself.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioners
John F. Dore

Chief Lawyers for Respondent
John G. Sargent, U.S. Attorney General; Michael J. Doherty

Justices for the Court
James Clark McReynolds, Edward Terry Sanford, George Sutherland, William Howard Taft (writing for the Court), Willis Van Devanter

Justices Dissenting
Pierce Butler, Louis D. Brandeis, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Harlan Fiske Stone

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
4 June 1928