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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www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
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
D.Conn.: Despite delay in seeking SW for electronics, on balance, warrant shall issue
Despite the delay in seeking a search warrant, the court finds the warrant should issue despite the delay because defendant was in custody otherwise denying him access to the property anyway. On the delay factor, investigations can’t be handed off … Continue reading
NY4: No REP in a handgun placed under car bumper in driveway at sidewalk visible from off the property
When defendant saw the police car at night, he crouched down behind the rear bumper of his minivan and stood up. The officers could see a gun there, and it was approximately at where the sidewalk and the driveway met. … Continue reading
UT: When two grounds support an arrest, attacking only one means affirmance
“Devenpeck, along with Utah appellate law, is controlling here. Whether Officer possessed probable cause to arrest Sanchez for DUI is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether the objective circumstances—the ‘known facts,’ see Devenpeck, 543 U.S. at 153—provided probable cause for … Continue reading
OH2: Inventory and tow of vehicle disabled in accident was reasonable under community caretaking function
Defendant’s vehicle was inventoried and then towed by Dayton PD because it was disabled after an accident blocking a busy intersection. There was no warning to defendant it was going to happen. It was within the community caretaking function of … Continue reading
CA9: Bivens could be extended to excessive force and 1A retaliation claim against CBP officer
Bivens could be extended to a Fourth Amendment illegal entry and excessive force claim and First Amendment retaliation by the CBP agent by reporting plaintiff to the IRS. Boule v. Egbert, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 36559 (9th Cir. Nov. 20, … Continue reading
CA9: Officer opening car door and leaning inside was a search
“Because opening the car door and leaning into the car constituted an unlawful search under the Fourth Amendment, the panel considered what remedy is appropriate in this case. The panel held that the exclusionary rule applies to the loaded handgun … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Anticipatory seatbelt violation stop was reasonable and led to valid admission of gun
Stopping car at the scene of a shooting 90 minutes earlier because more people piled in than there were seatbelts for was reasonable. [An anticipatory stop on reasonable suspicion a traffic offense was about to happen. The stop was clearly … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Def’s “‘bald assertion that he was an overnight guest,’ and nothing more, is certainly insufficient to establish that he had a legitimate” REP
Defendant was in a motel room coming out of the shower when the police came in. His own assertion he was an overnight guest for the previous two nights alone was insufficient to show his standing. United States v. McDaniels, … Continue reading
SCOTUS: Cert grant: “Whether the ‘community caretaking’ exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home.”
Caniglia v. Strom, 20-157 (ScotusBlog): Issue: Whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home.
TX7: Def had no standing to challenge the seizure of an aborted fetus’s DNA
Defendant had no standing to challenge the seizure of an aborted fetus’s DNA that connected him to the pregnancy. Sharp v. State, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 9025 (Tex. App. – Amarillo Nov. 17, 2020). Officers had an arrest warrant for … Continue reading
NY: Stop for center brake light being out was reasonable basis under statute
The trial court’s grant of the motion to suppress was error. The officer’s reading of the functioning brake light statute was reasonable that the center light being out was cause for a stop. People v. Pena, 2020 NY Slip Op … Continue reading
CA5: Ptf’s manual strip and body search in prison for a missing syringe was reasonable
Plaintiff’s manual strip and body search in prison for a missing syringe was reasonable. Parker v. Woods, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 36359 (5th Cir. Nov. 19, 2020):
CA5: Remanding on other grounds, stop lacked RS and should be reconsidered after a hearing
While reversing on other grounds, the Fifth Circuit directs reconsideration of the stop and frisk as lacking reasonable suspicion on the record it had for lack of a hearing. United States v. McKinney, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 36333 (5th Cir. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Inventory of duffel bag in hand on arrest was reasonable under FBI regs
The FBI inventory of defendant’s duffel bag on his arrest was reasonable under FBI regulations. Search warrants were used for cell phones found inside. United States v. Ellis, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 215725 (S.D. N.Y. Nov. 17, 2020):
AR: Commercial cop show video of search wasn’t in hands of state for discovery
Video of a drug search by a company producing HBO’s Meth Storm wasn’t in the hands of the state, so the state couldn’t disclose it, following Harmon v. State, 2020 Ark. 217, 600 S.W.3d 586 (2020). King v. State, 2020 … Continue reading
Tex.: Mere Miranda violation doesn’t automatically lead to suppression of physical evidence
A Miranda violation doesn’t automatically lead to suppression of physical evidence. The question is involuntariness and actual coercion, and then it could be. Wells v. State, 2020 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 944 (Nov. 18, 2020):
D.Nev.: Walking into a Walmart in NV 5½ months after the El Paso Walmart shooting potentially armed with a shotgun was RS
A 911 call that defendant was potentially armed with a shotgun coming into a Walmart in Sparks NV, 5½ months after the El Paso Walmart shooting that killed 23 and injured 23 led to defendant’s stop and frisk. This was … Continue reading
Vallejo Times Herald: Use and privacy policy for VPD’s ‘Stingray’ technology gets unanimous approval from council
Vallejo Times Herald: Use and privacy policy for VPD’s ‘Stingray’ technology gets unanimous approval from council by Katy St. Clair: