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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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)
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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
CA10: There was no violation of curtilage for def’s home on grounds of 24/7 storage company
Defendant lived on the grounds of a 24/7 storage building company. At 2:30 am, officers investigating saw cars coming and going from the residence. They approached his building, and the approach way wasn’t curtilage under Dunn. United States v. Powell, … Continue reading
ID: Def ordered from home in DV case had no standing in the home when violating order
Defendant ordered to stay away from his own marital home as a result of domestic violence no contact order had no standing in the house when he retreated inside to avoid the officer there to check on his violation of … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: A vehicle search doesn’t have to happen as soon as PC develops; prudent to wait for backup
“Defendant retorts that, if in fact Sgt. Concepcion discovered the marijuana odor early in the traffic stop, he should have begun the search immediately rather than waiting for the arrival of Investigator Gould, citing no caselaw in support. The Court … Continue reading
MI: Ordering def out of his house for a misdemeanor arrest without showing of exigency unreasonable
Defendant’s arrest violated the Fourth Amendment because it was the product of an illegal constructive entry without any exigency that occurred when armed police officers surrounded his trailer and ordered the occupants out. They could not have arrested defendant for … Continue reading
N.-M.: Broad cellphone search authorization was narrowed to emails and text messages and was particular
The command authorization for a search of defendant’s iPhone was reasonable and limited to files of emails, text messages, and search history as to his extramarital affairs before and after his wife’s death. A video found in an email was … Continue reading
Reason: A Fourth Amendment Mistake the Supreme Court Should Fix
Reason: A Fourth Amendment Mistake the Supreme Court Should Fix by Damon Root (“Don’t expand the “hot pursuit” exception to the Fourth Amendment.”)
CA8: Being a passenger in a stolen vehicle justifies a patdown for weapons
Defendant’s riding in a stolen car permits a patdown. “Further, to the extent Brooks argues questioning occurred before the frisk and exceeded the permissible scope of a Terry stop, we conclude that the officers were not required to give Miranda … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Roadside questioning in the patrol car doesn’t matter
“Also, the fact that Gardea was questioned in the patrol car is of no consequence. ‘An officer making a traffic stop does not violate the Fourth Amendment by asking the driver his destination and purpose, checking the license and registration, … Continue reading
New Law Review: The Fourth Amendment Limits of Internet Content Preservation
Orin Kerr, The Fourth Amendment Limits of Internet Content Preservation, forthcoming in the St. Louis University Law Journal. Abstract:
W.D.Ky.: PC to arrest for a drug crime doesn’t require a completed crime
Probable cause for arrest because of planning to commit a drug crime based on corroborated CI information without the drug transaction even happening. United States v. Kristopher, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 236421 (W.D. Ky. Dec. 16, 2020) [e.g., attempt, conspiracy]. … Continue reading
TX: Flight from arrest on a warrant doesn’t permit litigating the validity of the warrant
There was an outstanding arrest warrant for defendant that justified the officer’s attempting to arrest him, and his flight justified his conviction for evading. The exclusionary rule doesn’t reach down to the actual validity of the warrant and the statute … Continue reading
NBC News: Bodycam footage of botched police raid in Chicago sparks outrage
NBC News: Bodycam footage of botched police raid in Chicago sparks outrage (“The video of the February 2019 raid shows police officers handcuffed a naked woman and searched her home for nearly an hour before realizing they raided the wrong … Continue reading
CA11: Dist Ct acted within its discretion denying a suppression motion as untimely
Defense counsel waited past the pretrial motions deadline to file a motion to suppress complaining that he needed a state court transcript, but that hearing was long ago. The district court acted within its discretion in denying the motion for … Continue reading
OH5: Def’s large knife on his belt justified patdown for additional weapons
“We concur with the trial court that Officer Sholl had a sufficient reasonable objective basis under the totality of the circumstances to frisk appellant for weapons. Appellant had a large fixed blade knife on his belt loop. A pat down … Continue reading
WY: Questions about travel plans are allowed to put trip in “context”
Basic questions about where defendant and his passenger were going were reasonable to put their trip into “context.” That led to reasonable suspicion. Pryce v. State, 2020 WY 151, 2020 Wyo. LEXIS 178 (Dec. 16, 2020). (And one could ask: … Continue reading
DE: Actual presence of accused not required for suppression hearing and video appearance constitutional
A virtual suppression hearing that was a mixed question of law and fact didn’t require the actual presence of the accused under the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause, following United States v. Rosenschein, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129889 (D.N.M. July 23, … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: SW affidavit was sloppy and partly misleading, but not intentionally so
“A substantial basis existed for the court to determine probable cause existed on the face of the warrant affidavit.” It was, however, sloppy and partly misleading, but, on the totality there is no Franks violation. United States v. Johnson, 2020 … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Protective sweep for AK-47 was reasonable on knock-and-talk for weapon, denial of entry, and smelling MJ; one officer was to leave for SW
Police properly conducted a protective sweep for an AK-47 after a knock-and-talk did not gain entry. Police had an anonymous source, and defendant was an alleged felon in possession, and they went for a knock-and-talk. Defendant refused to consent, and … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Error in USPS tracking number of parcel in SW was a “mere technical error” when it was readily apparent they had right package
Error as to USPS tracking number in an anticipatory warrant wasn’t fatal and didn’t make the warrant not particular. All the other information was correct as to sender, recipient, description, and shipping location. This was a “mere technical error” that … Continue reading