In the United States v. Doe case of 1983, the Supreme Court ruled that a person's Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination extend to business records. The case involved a sole proprietor who refused to produce potentially incriminating business documents in response to a subpoena, arguing that doing so would violate his Fifth Amendment rights. The government argued that since corporations and partnerships are required to keep and produce such records under the "Required Records Doctrine," sole proprietors should be as well. However, the court held (in an opinion delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens) that because sole proprietorships are not separate legal entities from their owners like corporations or partnerships, forcing them to produce such records could indeed constitute compelled self-incrimination.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. Doe, 1983, Justice O'Connor argued that the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination should not protect a sole proprietor from being compelled to produce business records. She contended that these documents are created voluntarily and kept in accordance with legal requirements; thus they do not involve any testimonial compulsion which would trigger Fifth Amendment protections. Furthermore, she pointed out that corporations and partnerships can be compelled to produce their records without violating the Constitution because those entities have collective identities separate from individuals involved in them. Therefore, treating sole proprietors differently creates an unjustifiable inconsistency in law enforcement efforts against white-collar crime.