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- Cal.L.Rev.: Your Robotaxi Is Watching You. Does the Fourth Amendment Care?
- 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
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
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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)
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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
E.D.N.Y.: Def already lawfully arrested suffered no separate 4A violation by being taken to ATF, too
Defendant already lawfully arrested wasn’t unreasonably seized by also taking him to ATF for further questioning. United States v. Rodriguez, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158008 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 20, 2021). The affidavit showed “ample probable cause” and the Franks challenge is … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: No federal right to challenge administrative SW before execution
“[F]ederal decisions outside this circuit do not change the Court’s conclusion that Anthony Marano has no pre-execution right to judicial review of the administrative inspection warrant.” In re Establishment Inspection of Anthony Marano Co., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157819 (N.D.Ill. … Continue reading
Cal.3d: DNA obtained from def’s arrest in another unprosecuted case could be used to link him to a prior murder
Defendant’s DNA obtained from an arrest with probable cause but where he wasn’t formally charged could be used to link him to a prior murder, relying on Maryland v. King. People v. Roberts, 2021 Cal. App. LEXIS 692 (3d Dist. … Continue reading
CA11 (en banc): Preponderance standard required for inevitable discovery
“We granted rehearing en banc in this case to decide what standard of proof the government must satisfy to show that the evidence would ultimately have been discovered through lawful means without the constitutional violation. Must it show there was … Continue reading
CA8: Some evidence of nexus saves SW under GFE
Under the good faith exception, executing officers are entitled to rely on the magistrate judge’s nexus finding with some actual basis they can reasonably rely on, even if it technically might have been wrong. United States v. Barnes, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
DC: PO’s turning over supervisee’s GPS tracking to police not unreasonable
Defendant on probation in D.C. was supervised by the Court Supervision and Offender Services Agency. After he violated terms of probation, he was placed on GPS monitoring. It was not unreasonable for CSOSA to share that information with D.C. Metro … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Cell phone lock screen is in plain view
On a cell phone, “information that simply appears on a lock screen, without requiring digital entry, is in plain view.” United States v. Blair, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156445 (N.D.Ga. Aug. 18, 2021). Defendant didn’t have a reasonable expectation of … Continue reading
ND: When video contradicts officer, trial court’s credibility determination isn’t binding
Where the video of the stop clearly contradicts the officer’s testimony on the basis for the stop, the appellate court can reject the trial court’s credibility finding. Here, it was whether defendant’s license plate light worked. The video showed it … Continue reading
CA7: Deadly force to a non-suspect civilian not resisting arrest can be unreasonable
“Viewing all of the facts in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, we find that a reasonable jury could conclude that Garrett violated Steven’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures when Garrett applied deadly force to … Continue reading
WI: Checking traffic detainee’s compliance with prior bond conditions violated Rodriguez
Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, and defendant was on bond from a pending case. The officer decided to inquire into defendant was in compliance with the bond terms. That exceeded the normal incidents of a traffic stop. State … Continue reading
WaPo: We built a system like Apple’s to flag child sexual abuse material — and concluded the tech was dangerous
WaPo: We built a system like Apple’s to flag child sexual abuse material — and concluded the tech was dangerous by Jonathan Mayer and Anunay Kulshrestha (“We wrote the only peer-reviewed publication on how to build a system like Apple’s … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Even if pretextual, this stop was otherwise reasonable
The traffic stop here was reasonable even if pretextual. United States v. Brown, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155885 (W.D.Mo. July 30, 2021).* There was justification for defendant’s stop: driving 100 mph and other traffic violations. United States v. Young, 2021 … Continue reading
CA11: New facts of alleged illegal search already ruled on not appropriate for successor habeas
Defendant’s attempt at a successor habeas on four grounds includes one that there is new evidence that he was wrongfully arrested. That was previously addressed before the new evidence claim, and it’s denied. “ An applicant cannot create a new … Continue reading
CA7: Destruction or sale of seized property wasn’t unreasonable or a taking
Property lawfully seized by the city is destroyed or sold after a short while if unclaimed. That doesn’t make it an unreasonable seizure or a taking. Conyers v. City of Chicago, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 24676 (7th Cir. Aug. 18, … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Govt’s failure to raise GFE before USMJ is waiver
Government waived the good faith exception by not raising it before the USMJ. United States v. Stearns, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154919 (W.D.N.Y. Aug. 17, 2021). The trial court didn’t make sufficient findings on whether a handgun in plain view … Continue reading
D.Minn.: How search occurred shows USMJ no credibility on officer’s claim they could smell MJ
USMJ R&R finds officer not credible on his claim that he could smell marijuana in the car as justification for its search. United States v. Rolenc, 20-cr-137 (NEB/ECW) (D.Minn. Aug. 12, 2021). It’s a fascinating look at how the defense … Continue reading
NYTimes: The Illusion of Privacy Is Getting Harder to Sell
NYTimes: The Illusion of Privacy Is Getting Harder to Sell by Greg Bensinger:
ND: Search of passenger’s person for smell of MJ in car was unreasonable
Defendant’s patdown as a passenger on smell of marijuana was reasonable during the stop, but a search of his person was not. There was no justification for a search of his person. State v. K.V. (In the Interest of K.V.), … Continue reading
CAAF: When PC for warrant was a close call, GFE applies
The question of probable cause for defendant’s UA was a close call. Therefore, the good faith exception applies. The officers essentially did everything right and that should be rewarded, and there’s no reason to reverse the finding of probable cause … Continue reading