Lustig v. United States (338 U.S. 74)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 27, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 338 U.S. 74 · 69 S. Ct. 1372
- Decided
- June 27, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter announced the judgment of the Court and an opinion in which Mr. Justice Douglas, Mr. Justice Murphy and Mr. Justice Rutledge join. This is a prosecution under the counterfeiting statutes. Rev. Stat. § 5430, 35 Stat. 1088, 1116, 18 U. S. C. (1946 ed.) § 264 (now § 474). The sole question before us is the correctness of the denial of a pretrial motion, sustained by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 159 F. 2d 798, to suppress evidence claimed to have been seized in contravention of the Fourth Amendment as it is to be applied under the doctrine of Byars v. United States, 273 U. S. 28. Since the legal issue turns on the precise circumstances of this case they must be stated with particularity. At about 2 p. m. on Sunday, March 10, 1946, Secret Service Agent Greene received two telephone calls, one from the police of Camden, New Jersey, the other from the manager of a hotel in that city, indicating violations of the counterfeiting statutes being carried on in Room 402 of the hotel. Lustig, the petitioner here, and one Reynolds were registered for this room under assumed names. It is to be noted that the Secret Service is the agency of the Government charged with enforcement of the laws pertaining to counterfeiting. On looking through the keyhole of the suspect room after reaching the hotel, Greene saw Lustig, two brief cases and a large suitcase,…
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