Weeks v. United States

Petitioner

Fremont Weeks

Respondent

United States

Petitioner's Claim

That his house was searched and his papers seized without a search warrant and thus the papers should not be admissible in court as evidence against him.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Martin J. O'Donnell

Chief Lawyers for Respondent

Denison, U.S. Assistant Attorney General; John William Davis, U.S. Solicitor General

Justices for the Court

William Rufus Day (writing for the Court), Oliver Wendell Holmes, Charles Evans Hughes, Joseph Rucker Lamar, Horace Harmon Lurton, Joseph McKenna, Mahlon Pitney, Willis Van Devanter, Edward Douglass White

Justices Dissenting

None

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

24 February 1914

Decision

Reversed the decision of a district court and held that evidence obtained by unreasonable searches and seizures could not be used against a person in federal court.

Related Cases

• Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727 (1877).
• Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616 (1886).
• Bram v. United States, 168 U.S. 532 (1897).
• Holt v. United States, 218 U.S. 245 (1910).
• Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961).

Sources

Levy, Leonard W., ed. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. New York: Macmillan, 1986.