In Baker v. McCollan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a case of mistaken identity leading to wrongful imprisonment did not constitute a violation of constitutional rights under Section 1983. The plaintiff, Linnie Carl Baker, sued Sheriff McCollan after he was mistakenly arrested and detained for eight days in place of his brother who had used his identification during an arrest for drug possession charges. Despite providing evidence to prove his innocence, Baker remained incarcerated until officials realized their mistake and released him. He then filed suit claiming that this violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. The court held that while the situation was unfortunate, it did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation as there were no allegations suggesting intentional denial or reckless disregard for Baker's rights by law enforcement officers involved in the incident; they acted on valid legal documents (warrant). Furthermore, detention based on misidentification does not necessarily violate procedural due process if reasonable procedures are available to challenge it - which they were in this case but unfortunately took some time.

In the dissenting opinion for Baker v. McCollan, Justice White argued that the majority's decision failed to recognize a clear violation of constitutional rights. He contended that when an individual is detained based on mistaken identity, it constitutes a breach of their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures and Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. The justice believed that authorities had an obligation to promptly investigate claims of mistaken identity in order not to deprive individuals wrongfully arrested from their liberty without due process. In this case, he asserted that three days was too long for someone who claimed they were wrongly identified as a criminal suspect and held in custody without any investigation into his claim being conducted by law enforcement officials.