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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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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
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)
ACLU on privacy
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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
W.D.Tex.: Need for Spanish speaking officer contributed to reasonable extension of stop
Defendant’s traffic stop was reasonable to begin with, and the fact it took 50 minutes before the dog alert was justified under all the circumstances, including getting a Spanish speaking officer to the scene. United States v. Hernandez, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
N.D.Miss.: Rubberstamping no-knock SWs not a basis for suppression
Defendant’s contention is that the warrant issuing judge issues no-knock warrants without question is not shown to be a basis to suppress under Hudson v. Michigan. The remedy is a 1983 action. United States v. Bryant, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
NJ Const. protects right of privacy in detainee’s private call from police station on unwarned recorded line
The state constitution protects against surreptitious recording of a telephone line from within a police station of a suspect where there was no warning and he was allowed into a room alone to make a call. State v. McQueen, 2021 … Continue reading
D.Minn.: This nighttime search was reasonable and not overly intrusive
Nighttime searches can be overly intrusive, but, on balance, this one was not unreasonable. United States v. Jerome, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148848 (D.Minn. Aug. 9, 2021):
S.D.Ohio: SW issuing judge has judicial immunity
You can’t sue a judge for issuing a warrant where there’s no allegation that the judge abandoned the judicial role [harkening to good faith exception too]. Kolle v. Kyle, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148629 (S.D.Ohio Aug. 9, 2021). The smell … Continue reading
CA7: GFE inquiry seems to include merits of PC, even when court doesn’t have to go there
The district court decided this case solely on the good faith exception and never reached probable cause. So does the court of appeals. The affidavit had a presumption of validity, which defendant recognizes, and it was not bare bones. The … Continue reading
CA8: Three controlled buys via cell phone was PC for wiretap
Nexus and probable cause for a cell phone wiretap is the same standard as under the Fourth Amendment. “The CS performed three controlled buys by communicating with the cellphone number that was wiretapped. Further, the CS identified the number as … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Officers could accompany POs where there was fear def engaged in criminal conduct
It was not unreasonable for law enforcement officers to accompany defendant’s parole officer on a parole search because of concerns defendant was involved in criminal conduct. United States v. Davis, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147629 (E.D.Mich. Aug. 6, 2021). “Brewster’s … Continue reading
CA7: Without a triggering condition, this was not an anticipatory warrant
Despite defendant’s argument, this was not an anticipatory search warrant. There was no triggering condition, and it was issued with probable cause. United States v. Calligan, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 23402 (7th Cir. Aug. 6, 2021). There clearly was reasonable … Continue reading
OH2: Specific 4A claim not made to trial court is waived
The specific Fourth Amendment argument made on appeal wasn’t made to the trial court, so it’s waived. On the merits, officers getting defendant in to talk on basis of a ruse didn’t make it an unreasonable seizure. State v. Luther, … Continue reading
N.D.N.Y.: Stone also bars arrest claims
Lack of probable cause for an arrest is also not cognizable in habeas under Stone v. Powell. Shortell v. Kickbush, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146938 (N.D.N.Y. Aug. 5, 2021). Defendant’s 2255 search and seizure IAC claim is really just an … Continue reading
CA4: Where the vehicle was seized with PC, the fact it took 13 days to search it in the impound lot wasn’t a 4A violation
“Additionally, when a warrantless search of a vehicle could have been conducted on the scene pursuant to the automobile exception, a warrantless search is also justified after the vehicle has been impounded and immobilized as long as probable cause still … Continue reading
MA: No REP in MBTA fare card information and station videos that put def near scene of murder
The third-party doctrine should not be mechanically applied to MBTA (CharlieCard) fare card information under this court’s precedents. Nevertheless, there was no subjective reasonable expectation of privacy in the information. It only tracked his movements on the transit system, not … Continue reading
WaPo: Apple plans to scan iPhones to find sexual predators. Some fear the software could be weaponized.
WaPo: Apple plans to scan iPhones to find sexual predators. Some fear the software could be weaponized. By Reed Albergotti (“The new push pits Apple against civil liberties activists and appears to contradict some of the company’s own long-held assertions … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: The fact the search violated the state constitution isn’t a factor on legality of the search in federal case
In a federal criminal case, the fact the search violated the state constitution isn’t a factor on legality of the search under the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Breeden, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145729 (E.D.N.C. Aug. 4, 2021). Various factors … Continue reading