Olmstead v. United States
| Olmstead v. United States | |
|---|---|
| Argued February 20–21, 1928 Decided June 4, 1928 | |
| 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) |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Defendants convicted, 5 F.2d 712 (W.D. Wash. 1925); affirmed, 19 F.2d 842 (9th Cir. 1927) |
| Subsequent | None |
| Holding | |
| The Fourth Amendment's proscription on unreasonable search and seizure did not apply to telephone wiretaps. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Taft, joined by Van Devanter, McReynolds, Sutherland, Sanford |
| Dissent | Holmes |
| Dissent | Brandeis |
| Dissent | Butler |
| Dissent | Stone |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. IV, V | |
Overruled by | |
| 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, on the matter of whether wiretapping of private telephone conversations, conducted by federal agents without a search warrant with recordings subsequently used as evidence, constituted a violation of the target’s rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. In a 5–4 decision, the Court held that the constitutional rights of a wiretapping target have not been violated.
In his famous dissent, Justice Louis Brandeis stated that, "(The Founding Fathers) conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone – the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment."
This decision was overturned by Katz v. United States in 1967.