Civil liberties were restricted during World War I through the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, which were used to ban and punish criticism of the government and war. Additionally, some immigrants were arrested, denied a hearing, and deported because they were believed to support the Germans.

The law was extended on May 16, 1918, by the Sedition Act of 1918, actually a set of amendments to the Espionage Act, which prohibited many forms of speech, including “any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States .

The Sedition and Espionage Acts Were Designed to Quash Dissent During WWI. A handful of those convictions were appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the Espionage and Sedition Acts as constitutional limits on free speech in a time of war.

The Federalists believed that Democratic-Republican criticism of Federalist policies was disloyal and feared that aliens living in the United States would sympathize with the French during a war. As a result, a Federalist-controlled Congress passed four laws, known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled that the prosecution could not introduce Miranda’s confession as evidence in a criminal trial because the police had failed to first inform Miranda of his right to an attorney and against self-incrimination.

Private search doctrine: Evidence unlawfully obtained from the defendant by a private person is admissible. The exclusionary rule is designed to protect privacy rights, with the Fourth Amendment applying specifically to government officials.

Three exceptions to the exclusionary rule are “attenuation of the taint,” “independent source,” and “inevitable discovery.”