Archives
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Recent Posts
- C.D.Cal.: A Gerstein/McLaughlin violation for delayed first appearance requires a showing of prejudice
- CA11: Franks motion properly denied for lack of an offer of proof
- 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
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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)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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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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)
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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
KY: Trial court has no duty to suppress without defense objection
The trial court has no duty to sua sponte suppress when the defense makes no objection. It also isn’t plain error. Gardner v. Commonwealth, 2021 Ky. App. LEXIS 23 (Mar. 12, 2021) (unpublished):
M.D.Tenn.: Def failed to show parole search was unreasonble
This parole search wasn’t shown to be unreasonable. “As discussed in the above cited case law, there is a significant government interest in combating recidivism and thwarting illegal drug activity by parolees. Defendant has failed to point to any direct … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Traffic stop was admitted pretextual but it was based on RS of a drug offense and otherwise objectively reasonable
Defendant’s traffic stop was admittedly pretextual to investigate a drug offense, and the officers had reasonable suspicion on collective knowledge to justify the stop. United States v. Tuschoff, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47130 (D. Idaho Mar. 10, 2021). The CI … Continue reading
Bloomberg Law: Surveillance Camera Hack Raises Legal Risk of Digital Device Use
Bloomberg Law: Surveillance Camera Hack Raises Legal Risk of Digital Device Use by Andrea Vittorio & Jake Holland (“A recent hack into a massive collection of security camera data from Verkada Inc. shows the cyber and privacy-related vulnerabilities of digital … Continue reading
M.D.La.: Anonymous 911 call was corroborated enough for Navarette
The anonymous 911 call about flashing a gun at children satisfied Navarette. The officer was a mile from the place mentioned in the report and arrived shortly thereafter and saw the person the call reported. While the 911 caller could … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Failure to pay arrest warrant doesn’t violate 4A
A failure to pay arrest warrant issued on probable cause doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment because that’s only to start the process, not end it. Graff v. Aberdeen II, Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46760 (N.D. Okla. Mar. 12, 2021):
OH7: Search incident proper after concealed weapon found on def
Defendant was searched and arrested for a concealed weapon. That did not prohibit the officers from further searching his personal effects in his clothes. State v. Zepernick, 2021-Ohio-719, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 724 (7th Dist. Mar. 4, 2021). 2254 petitioner’s … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Franks challenge succeeds: no PC of trafficking, stale, and no GFE
Defendant prevails in his Franks challenge. The police withheld that defendant was at worst a suspect in personal use of marijuana, but made it look like he was a trafficker when they had no evidence of it. That means that … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Some force inheres in any arrest; de minimus force is reasonable
Some amount of force occurs in any arrest. The question is unreasonableness. “Garrett’s conclusory allegation regarding Williams’s specific actions establishes no more than the use of de minimis force by Williams, which does not constitute a Fourth Amendment violation.” Garrett … Continue reading
CA6: Def doesn’t show arrest was delayed to facilitate better protective sweep
The protective sweep finding defendant’s guns on execution of his arrest warrant was reasonable. Defendant does not show that the officers intentionally delayed his arrest with the purpose of exploiting a protective sweep. United States v. Cammon, 2021 U.S. App. … Continue reading
NE: Police have no const’l duty to fully interrogate a citizen informant
A citizen informant told police of a motorist that might need assistance, and that led to defendant’s arrest. There is no constitutional requirement for police to interrogate the citizen informant. State v. Montoya, 29 Neb. App. 563, 2021 Neb. App. … Continue reading
CA7: Claim of lack of PC for arrest not insulated from later review by a judicial finding of PC for trial
Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim they were arrested without probable cause survives the state trial court finding enough to hold them for trial. “The Supreme Court held that a Fourth Amendment theory based on lack of probable cause survives a judicial … Continue reading
GA: 4A claim had to be raised at agency hearing level to preserve for appeal
Failure to object on Fourth Amendment grounds at the agency level before the zoning board in a zoning administrative case was waiver for appeal. Forsyth County v. Mommies Props. LLC, 2021 Ga. App. LEXIS 145 (Mar. 11, 2021). “The first … Continue reading
FL1: Sheriff’s Office failed to show TV and PlayStation were lawfully seized during drug search
The Bay County SO executed a drug search warrant at claimant’s father’s house and seized a flat screen TV and PlayStation. Claimant sought return, and the state claimed it was lawfully taken and became county property by operation of law. … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Govt moots motion to suppress by deciding not to use challenged evidence
When the defendant files a motion to suppress and the government elects not to use the evidence at trial, the motion becomes moot. United States v. Bowers, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45445 (W.D. Mo. Mar. 11, 2021). Defendant’s 2255 for … Continue reading
TX13: State showed exigency for BAC without SW because it would have taken one of two officers off-duty
The state showed exigency in not getting a search warrant for defendant’s BAC after a serious car crash left him unconscious. It would have taken hours to get the warrant back then [2013] and it would have taken one of … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Prison strip searches are always permitted, unless done unreasonably
Inmates seen naked in prison is not a constitutional claim unless it was all done in an unreasonable manner. The limited facts here fail to show that. Danuk v. Downey, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45383 (C.D. Ill. Mar. 11, 2021):
E.D.Pa.: Just because defense counsel finds an omitted fact interesting doesn’t make it “material”; not all facts need be included
The 121 page affidavit for search warrant for evidence of drug trafficking was neither stale nor lacked nexus. Defendant’s Franks challenge also fails for lack of a substantial preliminary showing. United States v. Briggs, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44653 (E.D. … Continue reading