In the 1939 case Chambers et al. v. Florida, the U.S Supreme Court overturned the convictions of four African American men who were sentenced to death for murder by a Florida court. The defendants had been subjected to five days and nights of relentless interrogation while in police custody without legal representation or formal charges filed against them. They eventually confessed under duress but later recanted their confessions at trial, claiming they were coerced through physical abuse and threats by law enforcement officers. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that these confessions violated due process as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment because they were not given voluntarily but rather obtained through coercion and intimidation tactics used by police officials during interrogations which lasted several days without rest or food for some periods of time.

The dissenting opinion in the Chambers et al. v. Florida case was not recorded, as the decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous. All justices agreed that confessions obtained through coercion or intimidation are not admissible evidence and violate a defendant's right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The court overturned convictions of four black men who were subjected to intense police pressure over a week-long period without legal counsel present, ruling that their confessions had been coerced and were therefore unconstitutional.