Reese v. United States was a Supreme Court case in 1869 that dealt with the issue of whether a person could be convicted of a crime if the indictment was not returned within the time period specified by the statute of limitations. The defendant, Reese, was indicted for a crime that was committed more than three years prior to the indictment. The Supreme Court held that the indictment was not valid because it was not returned within the time period specified by the statute of limitations. The Court reasoned that the statute of limitations was intended to protect individuals from being prosecuted for crimes that were committed long ago and that the indictment was not valid because it was not returned within the specified time period. The Court also held that the statute of limitations was a part of the criminal law and that it could not be waived or extended by the government. This decision established the principle that a person cannot be convicted of a crime if the indictment is not returned within the time period specified by the statute of limitations.

In Reese v. United States, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a federal law that imposed an additional tax on certain individuals who had taken an oath of office violated the Constitution. The majority opinion held that it did not violate the Constitution because Congress has broad authority to impose taxes and regulate commerce under its enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. However, Justice Field dissented from this decision and argued that while Congress does have some power over taxation and regulation of commerce, this particular law exceeded those limits by attempting to punish people for taking an oath rather than taxing them or regulating their activities. He further argued that such a punishment could only be imposed through criminal proceedings which must follow due process requirements as outlined in Amendment V of the Bill of Rights; thus making this law unconstitutional since it failed to provide any form of judicial review before imposing penalties on citizens for taking an oath.