On January 18, 1965, Justice Potter Stewart delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court. Demonstrating the strength of the agreement among the justices, the court stated that it would not even consider the majority of Stanford's arguments against the warrant, stating it needed just one of his objections to determine that the search had been unconstitutional. Namely, the court found the warrant issued was a general warrant, something that the Fourth Amendment had been created specifically to prevent. Such a warrant required only the reasonable belief of wrongdoing, and granted law enforcement officials considerable leeway in what they were allowed to seize as evidence of a crime. The court quoted Revolutionary War-era figure James Otis; regarding writs of assistance, Otis remarks, "are the worst instrument of arbitrary power ... that ever was found in an English law book... the liberty of every man in the hands of every petty officer."