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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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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www.fd.org
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
Privacy Foundation
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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
CA11: Successor habeas over detention that led to confession not based on newly discovered evidence
Petitioner’s 2254 successor petition is denied on his claim that his detention was unreasonable that led to his confession. “Nero’s claims do not meet the statutory criteria. He indicates that his claims do not rely on a new rule of … Continue reading
D.VI.: CBP questions at border like “Did you pack the bag yourself” not subject to Miranda
Questions at Customs “Is this your bag?”; “Did you pack the bag yourself?”; and “Are you carrying anything for anyone?” are not subject to Miranda. They related to admissibility of the traveler. United States v. Bailey, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Demand for records from federal govt didn’t state a Washington state law claim
A demand for records from the federal government doesn’t state a claim under Washington state law when plaintiff grudgingly gave up the records. Daviscourt v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 246610 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 10, 2020)*:
Geofence warrants can be used to identify those who invaded the Capitol, not to mention Facebook warrants
The government’s prior use of geofence warrants were a prelude to this: With the invasion of the Capitol on Wednesday, the government now can attempt to locate all the cell phones inside the Capitol to identify those to potentially charge. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: When nexus of drugs to a residence is established, it can move with the def
If defendant moves and nexus to his residence and drugs has been established, it is a reasonable inference that the drugs went with the move. United States v. Hudson, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 246482 (D. Minn. Dec.19, 2020). “On the … Continue reading
OR: With recreational marijuana, the smell alone isn’t RS or PC
Because possession of recreational marijuana is legal in Oregon, the smell alone is not reasonable suspicion. Here, however, there was reasonable suspicion based on additional facts of attempted concealment. State v. T.T. (In re T.T.), 308 Ore. App. 408 (Jan. … Continue reading
CA5: Standard of review: GFE first, basis for finding PC second
“This court engages in a two-step inquiry when reviewing a district court’s denial of a defendant’s motion to suppress which challenges the sufficiency of a warrant. … First, this court determines whether the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule announced … Continue reading
CA5: Independent RS obviated govt’s reliance on collective knowledge
“First, we need not address the collective-knowledge doctrine. The police officer who initiated the traffic stop developed reasonable suspicion of a straw purchase through his own questioning and discovery of the firearm in Perez’s trunk after Perez lied about having … Continue reading
CO: Forced blood test unreasonable and suppressed; remedy is to prosecute for refusal
Under Colorado statute, anyone who drives a motor vehicle in the state is deemed to have consented to take a blood or breath test when requested by a law enforcement officer having probable cause to believe the driver is under … Continue reading
CA11: Not IAC to not challenge recording jail calls
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging recording jail calls [actually stated as a 2254(d) failure]. Garcia v. Sec’y, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 314 (11th Cir. Jan. 6, 2021).* The CSLI warrant was particular and not a general warrant, and … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Ptf’s 4A claim wasn’t sufficiently articulated to state a claim
“Mr. Ryan also alleges that there wasn’t any ‘adversarial pursuit of the Fourth Amendment’s protection of privacy can not be invalidated simply because a person’s right to want to be private evidences unlawful activity because the person does not want … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Littering from a livery cab justified stop and search of the cab
A littering offense from a livery cab in NYC justified a stop of the cab and entering it for further evidence of the crime. That resulted in a plain view. United States v. Abreu, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1945 (S.D. … Continue reading
DE: Def can’t argue RS was standard below then PC was required on appeal
Defendant can’t argue below that reasonable suspicion was all that was required, but then argue on appeal that probable cause was required. Gordon v. State, 2021 Del. LEXIS 2 (Jan. 6, 2021). An eyewitness claiming to be assaulted by defendant … Continue reading
FL2 sua sponte raises lack of standing on the record and remands
“The State appeals the trial court’s order granting Ricardo Fernandez’s motion to suppress after the trial court found the affidavit used to obtain the anticipatory search warrant was deficient and the good faith exception to the warrant requirement did not … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Even if a notebook was unlawfully seized, an IRS summons for it was valid
The IRS summons was upheld. “[E]ven if the notebooks were unlawfully seized, the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule does not render the summonses unenforceable. First, even if the exclusionary rule applied, evidence may not be excluded when it is obtained based … Continue reading
CA5: Affidavit for SW for cell phone photos didn’t show PC for drug trafficking
The affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s cell phone for evidence of drug trafficking and not just personal use did not permit a search of the photographs on the phone for evidence of drug trafficking. The good faith exception … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Franks challenge in PC clothing fails for no offer of proof
“At first glance, the Defendant’s motion does not appear to be a true Franks hearing request as it does not appear to contest the veracity of the statements of the affiant or assert that she made false allegations. Rather, it … Continue reading
CA5: Ptf’s underlying conviction is attacked by his 4A claim and thus barred by Heck
“We begin with Price’s Fourth Amendment excessive force claims as alleged in his proposed amended complaint. The district court concluded that Price’s claims, even as amended, remained ‘inseparable’ from his conviction for battery of an officer and, thus, were barred … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: CI’s story was substantially corroborated to provide PC; controlled buys the clincher
The CI’s story was substantially corroborated to provide probable cause. “In this case, Frampton’s affidavit provides substantial information about the CI’s reliability, from which the issuing judge could have inferred probable cause. The affidavit recounted the reliability of the CI’s … Continue reading