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

Legal Citation: 354 U.S. 178 (1957)

Petitioner
John T. Watkins

Respondent
United States

Petitioner's Claim
That Congress does not have unlimited power to investigate the private lives of individual citizens.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner
Joseph L. Rauh, Jr.

Chief Lawyer for Respondent
J. Lee Rankin, U. S. Solicitor General

Justices for the Court
Hugo Lafayette Black, William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, John Marshall Harlan II, Earl Warren (writing for the Court)

Justices Dissenting
Tom C. Clark (Harold Burton and Charles Evans Whittaker did not participate)

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
17 June 1957

Decision
The Supreme Court ruled that the congressional power of investigation is not unlimited and should not intrude...