In Berman v. United States (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that a taxpayer could not claim a deduction for legal expenses incurred in resisting his wife's demand for increased alimony payments. The court held that such costs were personal, living or family expenses and thus non-deductible under Section 262 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Mr. Berman had argued these should be considered as business deductions because they were necessary to protect his income from being diminished by higher alimony payments, but this argument was rejected by the court which affirmed an earlier decision made by the Court of Appeals.

In the dissenting opinion for Berman v. United States, Justice Hugo Black argued that the majority's decision to uphold a conviction based on evidence obtained through an illegal search and seizure was in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment. He contended that this ruling would set a dangerous precedent by allowing law enforcement officials to disregard constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures with impunity. Furthermore, he expressed concern about potential abuses of power and infringements upon individual liberties if such practices were permitted without consequence or oversight from courts. Justice Black maintained that all evidence obtained illegally should be excluded from trial proceedings as it is tainted by unconstitutional methods, regardless of its relevance or significance to the case at hand.