From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.
Davis v. Mississippi
United States Supreme Court
394 U.S. 721 (1969)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The police were investigating a rape and had only a general description of the suspect and a set of fingerprints taken from the scene of the crime. Davis (defendant), along with 24 other individuals fitting the description, was detained at a police station for interrogation and fingerprinting. Davis’s prints were found to match those at the scene. At trial, Davis argued that his fingerprints should be excluded from evidence because his seizure violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The state court disagreed, admitted the fingerprints into evidence, and convicted Davis. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Brennan, J.)
Concurrence (Harlan, J.)
Dissent (Stewart, J.)
Dissent (Black, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
