Parties: Charles Katz (Defendant-Applicant) v. United States (Plaintiff-Respondent)
Facts: Katz had long been suspected by police to be involved in the local illegal gambling scene. In an effort to obtain credible evidence of his illegal activities, the police placed Katz under surveillance (Katz v United States, 1967). That surveillance revealed that Katz liked to use a particular phone booth, which police suspected Katz used to place bets. Consequently, the police attached a “big” or listening device to the phone booth in order to record Katz’s conversation and hopefully obtain evidence against him. The bug was able to record Katz making bets and the police used those ...
