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Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206 (1966)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206 (1966)
Lewis v. United States No. 36 Argued October 17, 1966 Decided December 12, 1966 385 U.S. 206
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
Syllabus
An undercover federal narcotics agent, by misrepresenting his identity on the telephone, was twice invited to the home of petitioner for the purpose of executing unlawful narcotics transactions. Petitioner was thereafter indicted and convicted under 26 U.S.C. § 4742(a). Rejecting petitioner’s motion to suppress the purchased narcotics as illegally seized without a warrant, the trial court found petitioner guilty, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.
Held: the facts of this case present no violation of the Fourth Amendment.
(a) The Government’s use of decoy’s and undercover agents is not per se unlawful. Pp. 208-209.
(b) The petitioner invited the agent to his home for the very purpose of illegally selling him narcotics. Gouled v. United States, 255 U.S. 298 (1921), distinguished. Pp. 209-210.
(c) When the home is opened as a place of illegal business to which outsiders are invited for commercial purposes, the Fourth Amendment is not violated when a government agent enters pursuant to an invitation and then neither sees, hears, nor takes anything either unrelated to the business purpose of his visit or not contemplated by the occupant. P. 211.
352 F.2d 799 affirmed.
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Chicago:
U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206 (1966) in 385 U.S. 206 Original Sources, accessed November 3, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H3J7W27MBPXXFJ3.
MLA:
U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206 (1966), in 385 U.S. 206, Original Sources. 3 Nov. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H3J7W27MBPXXFJ3.
Harvard:
U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206 (1966). cited in 1966, 385 U.S. 206. Original Sources, retrieved 3 November 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H3J7W27MBPXXFJ3.
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