Silverman v. United States

Silverman v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 5, 1960 Decided March 6, 1961
Full case name	Silverman v. United States
Citations	365 U.S. 505 (more) 81 S. Ct. 679; 5 L. Ed. 2d 734; 1961 U.S. LEXIS 1605; 97 A.L.R.2d 1277
Prior history	Certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Holding
A federal officer may not, without warrant, physically entrench into a person's office or home to secretly observe or listen and relate at the man's subsequent criminal trial what was seen or heard.
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · Felix Frankfurter William O. Douglas · Tom C. Clark John M. Harlan II · William J. Brennan, Jr. Charles E. Whittaker · Potter Stewart
Case opinions
Majority	Stewart, joined by unanimous
Concurrence	Douglas, joined by Clark, Whittaker
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. IV

Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505 (1961), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that a federal officer may not, without warrant, physically place themselves into the space of a person's office or home to secretly observe or listen and relate at the man's subsequent criminal trial what was seen or heard.

References

• Text of the decision