United States et al. v. Janis

Decided July 6, 1976. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-958 · 428 U.S. 433 (1976) · Cited 1,453 times

Holding

The judicially created exclusionary rule should not be extended to forbid the use in the civil proceeding of one sovereign (here the Federal Government) of evidence illegally seized by a criminal law enforcement agent of another sovereign (here the state government), since the likelihood of deterring law enforcement conduct through such a rule is not sufficient to outweigh the societal costs imposed by the exclusion.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Elkins v. United States · 364 U.S. 206 (1960)
• United States v. Calandra · 414 U.S. 338 (1974)
• Mapp v. Ohio · 367 U.S. 643 (1961)
• Spinelli v. United States · 393 U.S. 410 (1969)
• United States v. Peltier · 422 U.S. 531 (1975)
• Wolf v. Colorado · 338 U.S. 25 (1949)
• One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania · 380 U.S. 693 (1965)
• Lustig v. United States · 338 U.S. 74 (1949)
• Michigan v. Tucker · 417 U.S. 433 (1974)
• Helvering v. Taylor · 293 U.S. 507 (1935)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Aguilar v. Texas · 378 U.S. 108 (1964)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Draper v. United States · 358 U.S. 307 (1959)
• Alderman v. United States · 394 U.S. 165 (1969)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Welch v. Helvering · 290 U.S. 111 (1933)
• Rizzo v. Goode · 423 U.S. 362 (1976)
• Rochin v. California · 342 U.S. 165 (1952)
• Linkletter v. Walker · 381 U.S. 618 (1965)
• Marchetti v. United States · 390 U.S. 39 (1968)
• Burdeau v. McDowell · 256 U.S. 465 (1921)
• Desist v. United States · 394 U.S. 244 (1969)
• Enochs v. Williams Packing & Navigation Co. · 370 U.S. 1 (1962)
• Bull v. United States · 295 U.S. 247 (1935)
• Grosso v. United States · 390 U.S. 62 (1968)
• Bob Jones University v. Simon · 416 U.S. 725 (1974)
• Byars v. United States · 273 U.S. 28 (1927)
• Nathanson v. United States · 290 U.S. 41 (1933)
• Tehan v. United States ex rel. Shott · 382 U.S. 406 (1966)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Lopez-Mendoza · 468 U.S. 1032 (1984)
• United States v. Leon · 468 U.S. 897 (1984)
• Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole v. Scott · 524 U.S. 357 (1998)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Brewer v. Williams · 430 U.S. 387 (1977)
• Herring v. United States · 555 U.S. 135 (2009)
• Illinois v. Krull · 480 U.S. 340 (1987)
• United States v. Fior D'Italia, Inc. · 536 U.S. 238 (2002)
• United States v. Raddatz · 447 U.S. 667 (1980)
• Hudson v. Michigan · 547 U.S. 586 (2006)
• Collins v. Virginia · 584 U.S. 586 (2018)
• Franks v. Delaware · 438 U.S. 154 (1978)
• Manson v. Brathwaite · 432 U.S. 98 (1977)
• Colorado v. Connelly · 479 U.S. 157 (1986)
• United States v. Jacobsen · 466 U.S. 109 (1984)
• Nix v. Williams · 467 U.S. 431 (1984)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Scott v. United States · 436 U.S. 128 (1978)
• Segura v. United States · 468 U.S. 796 (1984)
• California v. Greenwood · 486 U.S. 35 (1988)
• United States v. Henry · 447 U.S. 264 (1980)
• Arizona v. Evans · 514 U.S. 1 (1995)
• United States v. Ceccolini · 435 U.S. 268 (1978)
• Moore v. United States · 602 U.S. 572 (2024)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1976). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).