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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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
OH5: Def didn’t abandon cell phone but it was still reasonable for officer to turn it on to see if he could ID owner
Defendant did not abandon his cell phone by leaving it charging in a vehicle (actually, it had fallen out but the charging cable was attached) where he was away from it. However, the officer reasonably could turn on the phone … Continue reading
D.D.C.: 6A, due process, and F.R.Crim.P. 43 don’t mandate in person 4A suppression hearings during Covid
The court prefers to hold suppression hearings in person because, in many cases, it is the most important pretrial proceeding. But, while a suppression hearing is a critical stage where the right to effective assistance of counsel has attached, the … Continue reading
CA6: No suppression remedy for no-knock violation
The remedy for a no-knock violation is not suppression of the evidence—it’s a § 1983 action for violating the Fourth Amendment. Moreover, “An issuing judge need not eliminate every alternative explanation to find a ‘fair probability’ that contraband will be … Continue reading
CA9: Violent take down of traffic detainee not resisting could be found excessive; no QI
Qualified immunity is denied officers for excessive force in a violent take down on a passively resisting plaintiff in a traffic stop without there being any exigency justifying it. “Viewing the facts, as we must, in the light most favorable … Continue reading
CA5: District court’s failure to credit def’s claim of possessory interest in car is affirmed
Defendant was a passenger in a car in which he claimed he had a possessory interest because it belonged to his domestic partner and he claimed to have paid $2000 toward the car. The district court didn’t credit that testimony … Continue reading
SD: Def’s assault on police officer can’t be suppressed because the arrest was illegal
Defendant’s assault on a police officer attempting to arrest her can’t be suppressed because the arrest might be unreasonable. State v. Schumacher, 2021 SD 16, 2021 S.D. LEXIS 28 (Mar. 3, 2021). The stop was valid based on a registration … Continue reading
IA: Parking violation justifies police-citizen encounter
A parking violation justifies a police encounter with the driver. Here, the vehicle was obstructing, and the officer wasn’t obliged to merely leave a parking ticket on the car. The encounter led to an OWI arrest and conviction. State v. … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: “Days-old sale” of ½ ounce of marijuana didn’t justify wholesale search of records at home
The affidavit for search warrant based on an uncorroborated CI for sale of a ½ ounce of marijuana failed to show probable cause and it did not justify a search for virtually every document in the house or on his … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Not all exculpatory evidence needs to be in the affidavit for SW under Franks
Omission of two allegedly exculpatory pieces of information from the affidavit for search warrant didn’t undercut the probable cause shown by what was there. Not all exculpatory information needs to be provided: “Moreover, it is unreasonable to expect a police … Continue reading
CA7: Pre-Riley warrantless cell phone search saved by GFE
Defendant’s cell phone was searched without a warrant pre-Riley under law at the time. “If the evidence collected during the search was to be admitted, he contends, it was only through the application of the good-faith exception recognized in Davis … Continue reading
CA2: A mere hunch there was an arrest warrant made stop unreasonable
It was clearly established law in January 2015 that an officer’s unconfirmed hunch that an arrest warrant might possibly exist, coupled with nothing more than the officer’s recognition of a suspect from prior arrests, did not constitute reasonable suspicion justifying … Continue reading
CA7: Showing up for a controlled buy justifies automobile exception search
A prior controlled buy with defendant showing up for another one justifies a vehicle search under the automobile exception. United States v. Smith, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 6166 (7th Cir. Mar. 3, 2021). The trial court credited the officer’s testimony … Continue reading
CA11: Arrest at the threshold that continued inside where def tried to enter was reasonable
Officers on patrol saw defendant in an apartment building’s parking lot. They saw the bulge they reasonably believed was a gun, and they knew he was a convicted felon. They sought an encounter with him, but defendant refused to stop … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: 4A arrest claim also subject to Stone bar
Defendant’s 2254 claim that his arrest was without probable cause on mistaken identity is foreclosed by Stone v. Powell the same as Fourth Amendment search claims. “The opportunity, regardless of whether it is acted upon at the state level, is … Continue reading
CA1: Breaking the excessive force claim into parts for analysis results in a denial of QI
The officers do not get qualified immunity in this 1983 case. “Certainly, this was not an ‘obvious case’ where the officers so blatantly violated the Fourth Amendment that recourse to factually analogous case law is unnecessary. Wesby, 138 S. Ct. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: HomeAway and AirBnb prevailing parties in their data collection suit v. NYC
HomeAway.com and AirBnb.com were prevailing parties in their Fourth Amendment claims against the City of New York for sweeping data production, and they are awarded $595,000 in attorneys fees. HomeAway.com, Inc. v. City of New York, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
Reason: After the Cops Seized Her Car, the Government Waited Five Years Before Giving Her a Chance To Get It Back
Reason: After the Cops Seized Her Car, the Government Waited Five Years Before Giving Her a Chance To Get It Back by Jacob Sullum (“In Massachusetts, Malinda Harris argues, civil asset forfeiture routinely violates the right to due process.”)
S.D.N.Y.: Random Covid testing reasonable search under special needs doctrine
Assuming random Covid testing of NYC school children is a Fourth Amendment search, the court applies Vernonia School District 47J and special needs and finds it reasonable. Aviles v. De Blasio, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38930 (S.D. N.Y. Mar. 2, … Continue reading
CA11: Def doesn’t show searching officer’s arrest two years after his trial would have changed outcome for successor habeas
Defendant’s searching officer’s arrest two years after defendant’s conviction didn’t qualify for a successor habeas because he couldn’t show that the new information would have affected the officer’s credibility at a suppression hearing or trial, nor does he allege prejudice. … Continue reading