Day, William Rufus

William Rufus Day (1849–1923) was a U.S. Supreme Court justice who is best known in Fourth Amendment circles for authoring the Court's opinion in Weeks v. United States (1914). Born in 1849 in Ravenna, Ohio, Day graduated from the University of Michigan in 1870. He moved to Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law for many years. He became politically connected in part due to his friendship with William McKinley, who served as a U.S. congressman, as a governor, and as president of the United States.

McKinley appointed Day assistant secretary of state and then secretary of state. In 1899, McKinley appointed Day to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt elevated Day to the U.S. Supreme Court. Day was a prolific justice. In Weeks, Day wrote that the exclusionary rule applied in federal criminal proceedings, including the conduct of police officers and a U.S. marshal in the warrantless search of suspected gambler Fremont Weeks's home. Day eloquently wrote:

Day also wrote the Court's opinion in Burdeau v. McDowell (1921), in which the Court explained that the Fourth Amendment did not apply when private persons stole an individual's papers and then delivered them to the government. “We assume that petitioner [McDowell] has an unquestionable right of redress against those who illegally and wrongfully took his private property under the circumstances herein disclosed, but with such remedies we are not now concerned,” Day explained.