Wolf v. Colorado/Dissent Douglas

by William O. Douglas

United States Supreme Court

338 U.S. 25

Wolf  v.  Colorado

 Argued: Oct. 19, 1948. --- Decided: June 27, 1949

Mr. Justice DOUGLAS, dissenting.

I believe for the reasons stated by Mr. Justice BLACK in his dissent in Adamson v. California, 332 U.S. 46, 68, 67 S.Ct. 1672, 1684, 91 L.Ed. 1903, 171 A.L.R. 1223, that the Fourth Amendment is applicable to the States. I agree with Mr. Justice MURPHY that the evidence obtained in violation of it must be excluded in state prosecutions as well as in federal prosecutions, since in absence of that rule of evidence the Amendment would have no effective sanction. I also agree with him that under that test this evidence was improperly admitted and that the judgments of conviction must be reversed.

Notes