Exclusionary Rule Not Applied to Civil Tax Proceeding
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Discusses Supreme Court case, United States v. Janis. Here, Morris Aaron Levine and Max Janis had a search warrant exercised against them looking for bookmaking materials. In this search $4,940 in cash was seized. The arresting officer notified the Internal Revenue Service about Janis and after their investigation made an assessment against Janis and Levine in the amount of $89,026.09, plus interest. The IRS then levied on the seized $4,940 in partial satisfaction of the assessment. Janis and Levine moved to quash the search warrant. At a suppression hearing, the judge granted their motion and ordered all seized items to be returned except the $4940 levied by the Internal Revenue Service. After unsuccessfully claiming a refund of the levied cash, Janis filed suit against the Government in federal court for return of the $4940. The Government counterclaimed for the balance of the assessment. The court therefore ordered that the tax assessment against Janis be quashed, entered judgment for him, and dismissed the Government's counterclaim with prejudice. On appeal the Ninth Circuit affirmed. However, on certiorari the United States Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals and refused to extend the exclusionary rule to bar the use of evidence, illegally seized by state law enforcement officers, in a federal civil tax proceeding.