Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, , was a U.S. Supreme Court Case in which Silverthorne attempted to evade paying taxes. Federal agents illegally seized tax books from Silverthorne and created copies of the records. The issue in this case is whether or not derivatives of illegal evidence are permissible in court. The ruling was that to permit derivatives would encourage police to circumvent the Fourth Amendment

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...

, so the illegal copied evidence was held tainted and inadmissible. This precedent is known as fruit of the poisonous tree

Fruit of the poisonous tree

Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor in the United States used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally. The logic of the terminology is that if the source of the evidence is tainted, then anything gained from it is as well.Such evidence is not generally admissible in court...

 and is an extension of the exclusionary rule

Exclusionary rule

The exclusionary rule is a legal principle in the United States, under constitutional law, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law...

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See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 251
• Wong Sun v. United States
  Wong Sun v. United States
  Wong Sun v. United States, , is a United States Supreme Court decision excluding the presentation of verbal evidence and recovered narcotics where they were both fruits of an illegal entry. Narcotics agents unlawfully entered Toy's laundry at which point Toy indicated that Yee was selling...
  
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External links

• Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385 (1920) (opinion full text).