United States v. Janis, 428 U.S. 433 (1976), was a Supreme Court Case that found Max Janis and Morris Levine guilty of illegal bookmaking activities in Los Angeles in a 5-3 ruling. The two were arrested for the crime in November 1968. Appealing on the grounds of unconstitutionally seized evidence, Janis and Levine were heard by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1973. The case was ultimately heard by the Supreme Court in 1975, and the two were found guilty in 1976. More importantly, the case established that the exclusionary rule does not apply to civil cases where evidence is unconstitutionally seized by a state officer but used by a federal institution. Background In Los Angeles in 1968, Officer Leonard Weissman of the Los Angeles Police Department obtained a warrant authorizing the search for bookmaking paraphernalia in two apartments in the city. These apartments respectively belonged to Morris Levine and Max Janis. Officer Weissman had been conducting surveillance on the two men from September 14 through November 30 of 1968, during which time he suspected the two of illegal bookmaking. Upon the search, the officer confiscated $4,940 in cash, bookmaking records, and arrested the two men. The bookmaking records seized were a five-day sample of the men's income from the business. He later contacted a revenue agent in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to analyze these records. The Assessment Because Janis and Levine never filed tax returns from the income received during the period they were under Weissman's surveillance, the IRS agent made an assessment congruent to 4401 of the Internal Revenue Code. The section indicates that any unauthorized wager (i.e. those accepted in illegal bookmaking) shall have a 2% excise tax placed on them. Thus, a two percent tax was placed on the estimated income of Levine and Janis. This income was derived from multiplying the average income from the aforementioned five-day sample by 77 – the number of days the two men were under Weissman's surveillance. When all computations were made, the IRS made an assessment of $89,026.09 against the two men. Acting under 26 U.S.C. 6331, which gives the IRS the power to levy property from those who evade taxes, the original $4,940 was seized from Janis and Levine by the IRS as a part of the much larger assessment. Upon being charged of violating gambling laws in Los Angeles Court, Levine and Janis appealed. They