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- LATimes: Ex-L.A. County sheriff’s deputy gets prison time for using search warrant for a private client
- Privacy Daily: Chatrie’s Clarification to Fourth Amendment a Win for Privacy, Experts Say
- D.Alaska: Def’s half hour detention was without RS
- CA9: When the PC for SW dissipates, the search must stop; no GFE
- C.D.Cal.: SW for all software in gambling case was overbroad and no GFE
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
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“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Author Archives: Hall
LATimes: Ex-L.A. County sheriff’s deputy gets prison time for using search warrant for a private client
LATimes: Ex-L.A. County sheriff’s deputy gets prison time for using search warrant for a private client by Brittny Mejia (“A former L.A. County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to a year in prison for lying on a search warrant to secretly … Continue reading
Privacy Daily: Chatrie’s Clarification to Fourth Amendment a Win for Privacy, Experts Say
Privacy Daily: Chatrie’s Clarification to Fourth Amendment a Win for Privacy, Experts Say by Kara Thompson (“While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Chatrie v. United States was a win for privacy and clarified Fourth Amendment rights in the … Continue reading
D.Alaska: Def’s half hour detention was without RS
Defendant was detained, but not arrested, for over half an hour, and the court finds it was without reasonable suspicion, and the result should be suppressed. United States v. Vue, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158591 (D. Alaska July 17, 2026). … Continue reading
CA9: When the PC for SW dissipates, the search must stop; no GFE
“This case raises the familiar, but always troubling, question whether someone can be prosecuted for despicable criminal conduct using evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Here, officers conducting a search of Defendant John Holcomb’s computer, pursuant to a … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: SW for all software in gambling case was overbroad and no GFE
Defendant is accused of an illegal gambling operation in his home. The search warrant for software on the computer device is fatally overbroad. The warrant swept up everything, was overbroad, and the good faith exception did not apply. United States … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: State environmental inspector who entered property to look at unlicensed seawall gets QI
Plaintiff built a seawall on an inland lake without a permit. State environmental inspectors came to look and referred him for a violation of regulations. He sued in federal court for Fourth Amendment trespass. Despite it being clear the inspector … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: SW for def’s house included his tent outside
The search warrant for defendant’s house included his tent outside. Gardner v. Miranda, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153610 (S.D. Fla. May 27, 2026). The officer had reasonable suspicion for a stop, so the “new crime” rationale the court of appeals … Continue reading
404 Media: Flock: LAPD Regularly Pulled Over Innocent People Because License Plate Readers Flagged Their Cars As Stolen
404 Media: Flock: LAPD Regularly Pulled Over Innocent People Because License Plate Readers Flagged Their Cars As Stolen by Jason Koebler (“The Los Angeles Police Department let its Flock contract expire over the weekend in part because it was regularly … Continue reading
CA6: Despite two guns being suppressed from arrest on bare-bones arrest affidavit, third gun was later validly seized by independent source
The first search warrant was based on a bare-bones arrest affidavit. Two guns were seized and a third left behind. The seizure of the third gun was valid by the independent source doctrine. “Because investigators would have sought and obtained … Continue reading
D.Md.: Govt’s motion to reconsider granted motion to suppress denied; arguments now are too late
The government’s motion to reconsider of a granted motion to suppress presents theories that should have been in its original responses and not now. United States v. Cleckley, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155016 (D. Md. July 14, 2026):
CA4: Cell phone non-forensic border search doesn’t require individualized suspicion
“Border searches do not require a warrant to be reasonable. And if a border search is routine, individualized suspicion is not required either. But law enforcement may not conduct a nonroutine border search without individualized suspicion. Under our precedent, forensic … Continue reading
ND: Probation search of cell phone was reasonable
Probation search of defendant’s cell phone, whether he owned it or merely possessed it, was reasonable. He claimed it was someone else’s he had with permission. State v. Warner, 2026 ND 133 (July 9, 2026). Habeas petitioner’s Fourth Amendment ineffective … Continue reading
Vanguard: SF Court Dismisses Felony Charges after Judge Finds Racial Bias Tainted SFPD Stop and Arrest
Vangard: SF Court Dismisses Felony Charges after Judge Finds Racial Bias Tainted SFPD Stop and Arrest by David M. Greenwald (“A San Francisco Superior Court judge has dismissed all felony drug charges against Kenneth McCurry after finding that two San … Continue reading
OH7: Magistrate signing SW for something outside of territorial jurisdiction not a 4A violation
A municipal court judge issuing a search warrant for something outside his or her territorial jurisdiction is a nonfundamental error that does not require suppression of the evidence. State v. Mele, 2026-Ohio-2604, 2026 Ohio App. LEXIS 2537 (7th Dist. July … Continue reading
OH2: Stop outside the officer’s jurisdiction doesn’t violate 4A
A traffic stop outside the officer’s jurisdiction doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. State v. Sexton, 2026-Ohio-2636, 2026 Ohio App. LEXIS 2551 (2d Dist. July 10, 2026). A habeas petitioner has no right to discovery of search warrant affidavits. Moreover, he … Continue reading
RawStory Opinion: Trump just declared these parts of America are outside the Constitution (within 100 miles of any border)
RawStory Opinion: Trump just declared these parts of America are outside the Constitution by Thom Hartmann:
CA1: SW for iPhone 6S didn’t permit search of iPhone 13 despite same phone number
A search warrant for an iPhone 6S did not authorize a search of an iPhone 13 with the same phone number. Also, the good faith exception does not apply. Alleged exigency doesn’t save this search. United States v. González-Arocho, 2026 … Continue reading
CA7: It wasn’t a 4A violation to place a pole camera to look over def’s fence he built knowing he was under surveillance
Defendant knew he was under surveillance by police, so he installed a wooden privacy fence around his business property. So, police put a pole camera so they could look over the fence. The pole camera didn’t need a warrant. United … Continue reading
NM: Conflict of laws: NM exclusionary rule applies to TX search
Conflict of laws: “The New Mexico exclusionary rule is grounded in effectuating the constitutional rights of individuals and is therefore applicable where out-of-state evidence is introduced in a New Mexico court.” Here, it was a search in Texas that resulted … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Obtaining def’s juvenile records by subpoena is not a “search”; no REP
The government’s subpoena for defendant’s juvenile case records is granted. The government can show relevance and admissibility at trial. Defendant focuses on his Fourth Amendment claim which is rejected. No case says there is a reasonable expectation of privacy against … Continue reading