Grayson v. United States (25-851)
Jun 22, 2026OUTCOME: Writ of certiorari granted, judgment from the Sixth Circuit vacated, case remanded.
The Supreme Court granted the petition for writ of certiorari , vacated the Sixth Circuit’s judgment, and sent the case back for reconsideration in light of the Solicitor General’s May 12, 2026 brief. ... This is a “GVR” order. The Supreme Court's order instructs the Sixth Circuit to reconsider the case in light of the government’s acknowledgment that Sixth Circuit precedent is wrong. The jury convicted petitioner after the district court admitted an inculpatory FaceTime recording. Petitioner argued that 18 U.S.C. §2515, the federal wiretap law’s exclusionary rule, required suppressing the recording. The Sixth Circuit disagreed based on its precedent. Sixth Circuit precedent held that §2515 contains a freestanding "clean-hands" exception, which allows an unlawfully intercepted recording to be used when the party offering it wasn’t involved in the illegal interception. In its response filed in the Supreme Court, the United States conceded that the Sixth Circuit was wrong to apply a clean-hands exception. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and remanded to the Sixth Circuit. Justice Alito dissented.