Final answer:
The exclusionary rule originated from the 1914 Supreme Court case of Weeks v. United States, which established that illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible in federal court.
Step-by-step explanation:
The origins of the exclusionary rule can be traced back to the case of Weeks v. United States, which was heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1914. This landmark decision established that evidence obtained by the government in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, is inadmissible in federal court. This principle was later applied to state courts in the 1961 case of Mapp v. Ohio, thereby affecting all levels of government within the United States. The exclusionary rule is significant because it protects citizens' Fourth Amendment rights by excluding illegally obtained evidence from trial, reinforcing the idea that evidence must be obtained lawfully to be used in court.