Archives
-
Recent Posts
- D.Alaska: With a SW for a cell phone, officers should ask, not make, def to open the phone with his finger
- CA2: Statement there was CP on computer was PC to seize it for a SW
- S.D.Iowa: Cell phone search for info on drugs and guns didn’t need second warrant when sex offenses stumbled upon
- N.D.N.Y.: DNA by SW in FL in CODIS could be used in NY; defense counsel not IAC for not making def’s argument
- D.Ariz.: Smell of alcohol in the car on Navajo Nation was PC
-
Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog -
"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)
-
“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
CA7: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil cases
Plaintiff was arrested for possession of brass knuckles. The state court suppressed, so the state’s attorney nolle prossed. He sued under 1983. There was probable cause to arrest, and the exclusionary rule [even if the state court was right, which … Continue reading
WV: Officer admitted prior testimony was erroneous; not incredible as a matter of law
The officer obtaining the search warrant here was found to have mistakenly testified in federal court that he did not personally present this warrant to the magistrate. Admission of that mistake was credited here that he did present the affidavit. … Continue reading
Three on Franks
Review of an affidavit for a search warrant is “four corners” review. Defendant sought to offer a police report and the government objected. The court inquired into whether a Franks challenge was coming. He agreed, so he gets leave to … Continue reading
Never 4A IAC without a meritorious claim
“Movant is not entitled to relief on Ground One because he fails to show that a motion to suppress on such grounds would have been meritorious because (1) his detention during the search was not unlawful and (2) he fails … Continue reading
KS: Passenger had no standing in car he bought for girlfriend
The fact defendant paid for the car for his girlfriend but was a mere passenger at the time of the stop was not enough for standing under Byrd. He still had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it. State v. … Continue reading
IA: Warrantless entry for misdemeanor charge unreasonable
The warrantless entry into defendant’s apartment for a misdemeanor charge was unreasonable. She didn’t waive her reasonable expectation of privacy by partially opening the door to respond to the officers’ knock. Her obstruction charge thereafter, however, was independent of the … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Arrest warrant doesn’t require executing officer to check into PC for it
If there is an arrest warrant, the executing officer doesn’t have to look behind it to determine its validity. Other alleged probable cause for defendant’s stop is immaterial. United States v. Cox, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7551 (W.D.Ky. Jan. 14, … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Where there is a SW for a vehicle, def’s automobile exception argument is moot
Defendant argues that the inventory was pretextual to search for evidence of crime, except that there already was probable cause at that point for an automobile exception search. On a later vehicle search, there also was a warrant. Failing to … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Automobile exception applied to RV with engine not on blocks; was capable of movement
Whether the engine of a mobile home was running or not doesn’t matter. It was capable of movement so the search was valid under the automobile exception. “The fact that the motor home had a bathroom and kitchen and looked … Continue reading
E.D.Okla.: Motion to suppress waived when defense needed the evidence at trial
Defendant originally moved to suppress a search which included a video. Then he decided he needed it at trial, so it was waived. United States v. Savage, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 250209 (E.D.Okla. Nov. 19, 2021) (see Treatise § 60.19, … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: No 5A protection on phone pass code, and inevitable discovery applies
The foregone conclusion rationale for access to passcodes for cell phones. There was no Fifth Amendment privilege to providing the passcodes. Inevitable discovery applies. United States v. Zhengdong Cheng, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6437 (S.D.Tex. Jan. 12, 2022):
C.D.Cal.: Admin SDT is not a 4A seizure
The Secretary of Labor’s administrative subpoena duces tecum here did not violate the Fourth Amendment. “A warrant is required only when government officials enter onto a private party’s premises without consent and forcibly take possession of documents.” Walsh v. Int’l … Continue reading
IA: Conflict of laws: Federal SW that ends up in state prosecution governed by federal law, not state
When a federal search warrant results in a state prosecution, federal law applies to the search in state court. Here it applied to a scope of search question that might have been decided differently under state law. This court held … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: BOLO that matched defendant’s car was RS for stop
A BOLO that matched defendant’s car was reasonable suspicion for a stop. United States v. Yanez, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6376 (S.D.Tex. Jan. 12, 2022). Cell phone communication and text messages about drug deals with the defendant gave probable cause … Continue reading
CA7: Perfunctory 4A claim was treated as Heck barred
Plaintiff’s perfunctory Fourth Amendment claim is Heck barred because he seeks to undermine his conviction. If it were more specific, maybe it would have overcome Heck, but this doesn’t. Raney v. Wisconsin, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 966 (7th Cir. Jan. … Continue reading
CA10: That officer could have provided false affidavit is not a ‘substantial preliminary showing’ for Franks
“Velarde-Pavia has offered no evidence that Officer Juarez lied in his affidavit. Rather than make the needed ‘substantial preliminary showing,’ Velarde-Pavia only speculates that Officer Juarez could be lying–that is not enough.” As to informant hearsay, the affidavit for the … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: SoL for false arrest starts on release from custody
The statute of limitations for a false arrest case starts with release. Manuel v. City of Joliet, Ill. (Manuel II), 903 F.3d 667, 669 (7th Cir. 2018), on remand from Manuel v. City of Joliet, Ill., 137 S. Ct. 911 … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: [Gratuitously] asking motorist for consent deviated from the mission of the stop; motion to suppress granted
Asking defendant for consent to search when there were three officers around and then telling the others she declined unreasonably extended the stop even though it was 50 seconds. No decision had been made to issue a ticket or a … Continue reading
CA4: Conclusory allegations don’t satisfy Franks
“In arguing that he was entitled to a Franks hearing, Landaverde-Giron relies only on his own conclusory allegations to demonstrate intentional falsity or reckless disregard for the truth by the affiant. He points to no evidence supporting his conclusion that … Continue reading
NM: Traffic arrest by reserve deputy in violation of statute violates state constitution
Where the legislature requires traffic arrests be made by uniformed, sworn, and salaried officers, arrest by a reserve deputy violates the state constitution. State v. Wright, 2022 N.M. LEXIS 2 (Jan. 10, 2022). “The Court finds that Mr. Hunley was … Continue reading