During the Prohibition period, the government suspected that Roy Olmstead was a bootlegger running a large illegal liquor operation. Without approval from the judiciary, federal agents wiretapped his premises and nearby streets. With the evidence obtained from the wiretaps, Olmstead and his accomplices were convicted for conspiracy to violate the National Prohibition Enforcement Act, which made it against the law to import, possess, or sell liquor. The U.S. Supreme Court sustained his conviction, holding that neither Olmstead’s Fourth nor his Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution had been violated. His Fourth Amendment rights were not violated because the wiretaps were not an illegal search and seizure, and his Fifth Amendment rights were not violated because the wiretapped conversations did not constitute self-incrimination.