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)
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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
WaPo: Ex-FBI lawyer, accused of falsifying document in probe of Trump’s campaign, to plead guilty
WaPo: Ex-FBI lawyer, accused of falsifying document in probe of Trump’s campaign, to plead guilty by Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett:
E.D.Cal.: SI for a bicycle riding infraction is unjustified
Defendant was lawfully stopped for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk over a bridge, but it was only an infraction and a search incident was unreasonable. United States v. Harris, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145000 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 12, 2020). … Continue reading
CA6: Alleged false statement to get an arrest warrant overcame QI
Alleged false statement to get an arrest warrant overcame qualified immunity. Tlapanco v. Elges, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 25595 (6th Cir. Aug. 12, 2020). The state failed to show exigent circumstances excused obtaining a search warrant for defendant’s BAC. Commonwealth … Continue reading
CA3: FBI notice of being “armed and dangerous” justified stop and furtive movement a frisk
“Here, McKee testified that the FBI notice describing Robinson stated that he was armed and dangerous. McKee also testified that Robinson failed to comply with his first order to put his hands up and kept reaching for his waistband. These … Continue reading
FL3: Some discretion in the seizing officers as to what should be seized was not unreasonable or a lack of particularity
Some discretion in the seizing officers as to what should be seized was not unreasonable or a lack of particularity. An unfilled-in blank on the warrant didn’t make it vague, either. Also, defendant waived his probable cause argument on appeal … Continue reading
OH5: 911 call of man carrying long gun on street wasn’t RS
Police received a 911 call that a man was carrying an “AK”-like long gun, hiding from passersby, and was apparently going to rob a store. Defendant was encountered openly carrying a gun, legal conduct, but he wasn’t hiding because the … Continue reading
CA11: SI of notebook in def’s purse was reasonable without PC as to it
A notebook in defendant’s purse was properly searched incident to her arrest, even without probable cause it contained evidence. United States v. Ouedraogo, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 25519 (11th Cir. Aug. 12, 2020):
NJ: Once SW issues for cell phone, foregone conclusion exception to self-incrimination applies and password can be compelled
Once a search warrant issues for a cell phone, there is no privilege of self-incrimination in the phone barring compelled production of the password. The foregone conclusion exception to the Fifth Amendment applies. State v. Andrews, A-72-18 (N.J. Aug. 10, … Continue reading
CA7: Prison inmates have 4A reasonableness protection against abusive strip and body cavity searches
Prison inmates retain a Fourth Amendment reasonableness right against abusive strip and body cavity searches enough to state a claim here. Qualified immunity is reserved for later. Henry v. Hulett, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 25390 (7th Cir. Aug. 11, 2020) … Continue reading
CA11: Def’s failure to claim cell phone once it was released was abandonment
Police released defendant’s cell phone two days after its seizure, but defendant never sought to recover it. This was considered an abandonment. Standing to challenge CSLI could be an issue because the phones weren’t claimed, but, without deciding that, the … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Reasonable reliance on apparent authority is good faith in itself
Reasonable reliance on apparent authority to consent is good faith. “And relying on consent in good faith is circular and redundant. Whether there is apparent authority to consent already addresses the officers’ good-faith belief in the consenters’ authority. Put differently, … Continue reading
CA11: While unclear whether 4A applies to pretrial detainees, 14A does and standards the same
As pretrial detainee, it’s unclear whether the Fourth Amendment applies to his claims. The Fourteenth Amendment clearly does, and, in any event the standards would be applied the same. Patel v. Lanier County, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 25345 (11th Cir. … Continue reading
AZ: Offer of proof would be helpful for Franks claim, and def didn’t make one here
“As noted above, however, some of these alleged omissions and misstatements are simply not supported by the record. And, the omissions that are supported by the record were not material given the strength of the evidence supporting a finding of … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Ptf’s claim he was held past his sentence expiring stated a 4A claim
Plaintiff’s claim he was held in jail past his sentence expiration date survives summary judgment as a Fourth Amendment claim. Barrese v. Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep’t, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143360 (D. Nev. Aug. 10, 2020). The trial court … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: “chemical agents, less lethal projectiles such as rubber bullets and flashbang grenades” against peaceful protesters states enough to stay in court
Plaintiffs were alleged peaceful protesters in Oakland claiming excessive force was used against them: “chemical agents, less lethal projectiles such as rubber bullets and flashbang grenades.” They provided video evidence. They stated enough of a claim at this point to … Continue reading
D.Me.: No exigent circumstances for BAC blood sample without SW
A Park Ranger in Acadia National Park in Maine followed Maine law to get a blood sample without a search warrant. There were no exigent circumstances, and the blood sample is suppressed. United States v. Manubolu, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
NY3: Stop justified by traffic offense, despite racial pretext claim
Defendant’s stop was justified by a traffic offense, despite claims it might have been racially motivated. People v. Price, 2020 NY Slip Op 04430, 2020 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4532 (3d Dept. Aug. 6, 2020). See the concurring opinion:
CA7: “Extensive police corroboration” of CI’s story was PC
Defendant’s appellate argument the CI’s information wasn’t probable cause is rejected. “[T]he extensive police corroboration detailed in the affidavit strongly supports the issuing judge’s probable cause determination. … [¶] Next, on the second and third factors, Bonz had firsthand knowledge … Continue reading
CA9: It was well established that “illegal presence” in the U.S. was not a crime, so ptf’s arrest was unreasonable
Illegal entry is a crime, but not mere presence, and that was well established since 2012. Defendant’s arrest of plaintiff in a courtroom as a witness on suspicion of being here illegally at the request of a JP was unreasonable. … Continue reading