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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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Congressional Research Service:
--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
SCOTUS: Lange v. California: “Under the Fourth Amendment, pursuit of a fleeing misdemeanor suspect does not always—that is, categorically—justify a warrantless entry into a home.”
Lange v. California, 141 S.Ct. 2011 (June 23, 2021). Syllabus:
S.D.Ill.: Claim of smell of marijuana from edibles in sealed container not credible
Court finds the officers lacked credibility on the claim they could smell marijuana from fruit flavored edibles in sealed packages. United States v. Clark, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115872 (S.D. Ill. June 22, 2021):
CA6: Successor habeas trying to make search claim a Brady issue fails
Successor habeas on ground that audio of dashcam video was muted to conceal a Fourth Amendment violation denied. It doesn’t show actual innocence for 2255(h). In re Jelks, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 18552 (6th Cir. June 21, 2021). Defendant had … Continue reading
CA2: DL address is “reason to believe” where def lives for entry on arrest warrant
Defendant’s DL had the address where the police entered on an arrest warrant, and it led to a plain view. The DL address was “reason to believe” it was his address. United States v. Johnson, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 18491 … Continue reading
Techdirt: DOJ Asks DC Court To Compel Decryption Of Device Seized In A Capitol Raid Case
Techdirt: DOJ Asks DC Court To Compel Decryption Of Device Seized In A Capitol Raid Case by Tim Cushing. The government filed this pleading.
E.D.Ark.: No 4A REP in trash container at the street for pickup
Based on the undisputed facts (such that a hearing isn’t required), defendant’s trash was out for collection, and no reasonable expectation of privacy was violated by searching it, and then using that information to get a search warrant. “Here, Officer … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: One has to show standing to get access to SW materials
Defendant has to show his standing to get access to the search warrant application under United States v. Pirk, 282 F. Supp. 3d 585, 594 (W.D.N.Y. 2017). United States v. Cobb, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114405 (W.D. N.Y. June 18, … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Seizure without RS led to abandonment; suppression granted
Defendant was seized without reasonable suspicion when an officer acting on an informant’s tip approached him with hand on gun telling defendant to raise his hands. Seconds later, he fled, dropping the gun. The court finds an unreasonable seizure precipitated … Continue reading
IA: State constitution prohibits warrantless trash search; “Current Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is a mess.”
Finding Iowa law long recognized trespass was an unreasonable entry, the state Supreme Court holds under the state constitution that trash out for collection by the trash collector is not abandoned property, and defendant still retained a reasonable expectation of … Continue reading
MI: Def’s arrest being unlawful, his statement during should be suppressed
The state supreme court having found defendant’s arrest unlawful, his statement during the arrest should have been suppressed. People v. Hammerlund, 2021 Mich. App. LEXIS 3773 (June 17, 2021) (2-1) (dissent). Detention under the Material Witness Statute that was validly … Continue reading
OK: Smell of burnt marijuana in car is still PC in MMJ state
The smell of burnt marijuana in defendant’s car was still probable cause, despite it being in a medical marijuana state. State v. Roberson, 2021 OK CR 16, 2021 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 16 (June 17, 2021):
FL2: State’s failure to prove policy for inventory was failure of proof on warrantless search
Inventory is an exception to the warrant requirement, so the state carries the burden of proof. Here, the state failed to prove the policy, a General Order, that permitted the inventory to show that it was not a subterfuge for … Continue reading
WI: Warrantless blood draw from incapacitated driver unconstitutional
Wisconsin’s statute allegedly permitting blood draws of incapacitated drivers is unconstitutional for lack of actual consent, but the good faith exception saves it today. State v. Prado, 2021 WI 64, 2021 Wisc. LEXIS 98 (June 18, 2021):
FL5: Police report’s stating search was search incident isn’t binding at the suppression hearing
The officer’s noting the search of defendant’s vehicle was incident to arrest was incorrect and not binding at the suppression hearing. It was valid as an inventory. State v. Koontz, 2021 Fla. App. LEXIS 9019 (Fla. 5th DCA June 18, … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Def’s failing to stop for a Terry stop doesn’t justify hot pursuit into home
Officers cannot enter a defendant’s home in hot pursuit from his failing to stop for a Terry stop on mere reasonable suspicion. United States v. Cannon, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112705 (D.N.M. June 16, 2021). The officer’s initial observations of … Continue reading
OH10: Not challenging SW was strategic choice in self-defense case
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not objecting to the search warrant because it would contradict his claim of self-defense. State v. Messenger, 2021-Ohio-2044, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 2017 (10th Dist. June 17, 2021) (see § 60.19) The issue here is … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Four month delay in getting SW for cell phone was not unreasonable
There was justification for seizure of defendant’s cell phone in plain view because it might have evidence of a crime on it. The four month delay in obtaining a search warrant for the phone was reasonable under all the circumstances, … Continue reading
Mapp v. Ohio decided 60 years ago today
Mapp v. Ohio was decided 60 years ago today. See these prior posts; 2017 and 2014
IA: Def’s registration papers weren’t in order; while waiting on a response from dispatch, criminal history led to calling drug dog. This didn’t extend the stop
The officer intended only to give a warning, but it took a while for defendant’s registration to clear a computer check. While waiting, the officer checked defendant’s criminal history finding a significant meth history and then called for a drug … Continue reading