Receiving unspecified "information" and "reports" concerning William Beck and his current whereabouts, policeman in Cleveland, Ohio stopped him in his automobile and placed him under arrest without a warrant on November 10, 1961, for "a clearing house operation, scheme of chance.

At the police station, however, they searched his person and discovered, "beneath the sock of his leg," an envelope containing a number of clearing house slips, a then-illegal possession in Ohio for which he was charged in Cleveland Municipal Court.

The majority (Stewart, joined by Warren, Douglas, Brennan, White, Goldberg) overturned the Ohio Supreme Court ruling, invalidating the arrest and all evidence obtained therefrom.

The Court concluded that the "record in this case does not contain a single objective fact to support a belief by the officers that the petitioner was engaged in criminal activity at the time they arrested him.

If subjective good faith alone were the test, the protections of the Fourth Amendment would evaporate, and the people would be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, only in the discretion of the police.