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Present At The Creation? A Critical Guide To Weeks V. United States And Its Progeny, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

The Supreme Court in Weeks v. United States held that upon a pretrial motion for return of property illegally seized, a court must order restitution, even if government is thereby deprived of its use at a subsequent trial. Many have characterized the Court’s decision as being grounded on a principled rather than empirical basis and as supporting the principle of exclusion. This Article critically examines Weeks to gauge the validity of the principled basis theories that Justice Day arguably advances as defenses to the rule in his opinion. Although a principled rationale underlies the decision in Weeks, it does …