In the 1948 case McDonald et al. v. United States, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained through an illegal search and seizure could not be used in court, upholding the exclusionary rule of Fourth Amendment rights. The police had entered a boarding house without a warrant after hearing what they believed to be an illegal dice game taking place inside; upon entry, they arrested several people and seized gambling paraphernalia as evidence. The defendants were convicted based on this evidence but appealed their conviction arguing that it was unconstitutional due to lack of warrant for search and seizure. In a 5-3 decision led by Justice Felix Frankfurter, the Supreme Court agreed with them stating that law enforcement officers' actions violated their constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

In the dissenting opinion for McDonald et al. v. United States, Justice Jackson argued that the majority's decision undermined Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by allowing police to bypass obtaining a warrant under exigent circumstances. He contended that there were no such urgent conditions in this case as the police had ample time to secure a search warrant but chose not to do so. Furthermore, he expressed concern over expanding law enforcement powers without clear boundaries or guidelines on what constitutes an emergency situation justifying immediate action without a warrant. This could potentially lead to abuse of power and violation of citizens' constitutional rights, he warned.