In the United States v. Havens case of 1979, the Supreme Court ruled on an issue related to evidence obtained in violation of a defendant's Fourth Amendment rights. The case involved Mr. Havens, who was convicted for smuggling cocaine into Miami from Peru after authorities found cocaine sewn into makeshift pockets in his undershirt during a search at customs - this evidence had been excluded from trial due to being obtained illegally. However, when another man arrested with him testified that they both made and wore similar shirts for drug transportation purposes, prosecutors used the shirt as impeachment evidence against Haven’s credibility by contradicting his testimony denying involvement in drug smuggling activities. The Supreme Court held that even if initial seizure of physical evidence violated Fourth Amendment rights (thus excluding it from direct use), such unlawfully seized evidence could still be used to impeach or challenge a defendant's own false statements or testimonies given under oath during cross-examination at trial without violating their constitutional protections.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. Havens, Justice Thurgood Marshall argued that the majority's decision undermined Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. He contended that evidence obtained from an illegal search should not be admissible in court, even if it was used to impeach a defendant's testimony rather than as direct proof of guilt. According to Marshall, allowing such use of illegally obtained evidence would incentivize police misconduct by providing them with another avenue through which they could utilize unconstitutionally seized materials. Furthermore, he believed this ruling blurred the clear line established by previous case law between permissible and impermissible uses of tainted evidence in trials.