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ERIC Number: EJ927055
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7724
EISSN: N/A
Request for a Copy of the Decision in "Weeks v. The United States"
Jones, Megan
Social Education, v75 n2 p56-59 Mar-Apr 2011
On December 21, 1911, Fremont Weeks, an employee of the Adams Express Company, was arrested while on the job at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. Police suspected that Weeks was selling and "transmitting chances" in a lottery, which at the time was considered gambling, an illegal action in Missouri. While Weeks was being held at the police station, Police officers went to his residence and seized items, without a search warrant, and turned over the evidence to U.S. Marshal A.J. Martin. Based on the evidence taken by the law enforcement officials, Weeks was indicted on charges of gambling and using the U.S. Postal Service to distribute chances in a lottery. As a result of the evidence used during the trial, Weeks was found guilty by the jury of illegal gambling. "Weeks v. The United States" was argued before the Supreme Court on December 2-3, 1913. The question of interest to the Court was whether or not the evidence seized from Weeks's residence without a search warrant was a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The Court decided to overturn Weeks's conviction by a unanimous vote, not because he was innocent of the charges but because the evidence that had been used to convict him had been obtained without a search warrant and was thus a violation of the Fourth Amendment protecting him against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Supreme Court decision banning illegally obtained evidence in federal court serves as a point of entry for the study of search warrants and the Fourth Amendment. Teaching suggestions for the study of search warrants and the Fourth Amendment are presented.
National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Missouri; United States
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Fourth Amendment
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A