In the 1892 case Wilson v. United States, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a defendant cannot be compelled to produce private papers that could incriminate them in a criminal trial. The court held this would violate their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. This decision was based on an appeal by Alexander Wilson who had been convicted of bigamy after being forced to provide letters proving his guilt during his original trial. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction, stating it was unconstitutional for him to have been required to supply evidence leading to his own prosecution.

In the dissenting opinion for Wilson v. United States, Justice Brewer argued that a person's private papers should not be used as evidence against them in court. He believed this was an invasion of privacy and violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Furthermore, he contended that using one's personal documents as self-incriminating evidence contradicted the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination. In his view, forcing someone to produce their own private papers for use against them essentially coerced them into becoming a witness against themselves - something expressly forbidden by constitutional law. Thus, while acknowledging the necessity of search warrants in certain circumstances (such as searching for stolen goods), he maintained that they could not extend to seizing a person’s private papers with intent to incriminate him or her based on its contents.