ABSTRACT
In Weeks v. United States, 232 US 383, the US Supreme Court issued two important holdings. First, the Court held that the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures prohibited the use at trial of evidence seized by federal officials in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Second, the Court held that the limitations on government action provided by the Fourth Amendment did not apply to state and local officials. Fremont Weeks was convicted on federal criminal charges involving the improper use of the US mail to deliver lottery tickets. In reversing Weeks's conviction, the Supreme Court distinguished between the evidence obtained by the different law enforcement agencies. The Court overturned Weeks's initial conviction and returned the case to the lower court for a new trial based only on the evidence obtained by the local police officers.
