In Blackburn v. Alabama (1959), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a murder conviction on the grounds that it violated due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as protection against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment. The case involved Robert Blackburn who was convicted for murder in Alabama based primarily on his confession to police officers while he was hospitalized and heavily medicated. The court ruled 5-4 that Blackburn's confession could not be considered voluntary because he had been suffering from a mental illness at the time, which made him incapable of making an informed decision about confessing to a crime. Therefore, using this confession as evidence constituted coercion and violated his constitutional rights.

In the dissenting opinion for Blackburn v. Alabama, Justice Frankfurter disagreed with the majority's decision to overturn Blackburn's conviction based on a coerced confession. He argued that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that his confession was indeed involuntary and therefore inadmissible as evidence. The justice pointed out that while some of the circumstances surrounding Blackburn’s arrest and interrogation were questionable, they did not necessarily establish coercion or intimidation by law enforcement officials. Furthermore, he contended that it is not within the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to reevaluate facts already determined by state courts unless there is clear proof of constitutional violation which he believed wasn't present in this case.