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- 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 -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
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"On the Docket"–Medill
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General (many free):
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Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
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
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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
Law.com/NYLJ: COVID-19 and the Constitution: How the Bill of Rights Is Being Tested by the Coronavirus
Law.com/NYLJ: COVID-19 and the Constitution: How the Bill of Rights Is Being Tested by the Coronavirus by John Curran, Jake Gardener and Jeffery Ding (“The coronavirus is set to test our Bill of Rights more broadly than any other event … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: “After editing out the incomplete and false portions of the warrant affidavit, the remaining information was insufficient to establish” PC
“After editing out the incomplete and false portions of the warrant affidavit, the remaining information was insufficient to establish that Green was dead and that his death was caused by the criminal act of another person. Accordingly, the Court finds … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Six days to draft a cell phone SW was reasonable
The government was diligent in getting a warrant over six days, including a weekend, where the agents and the USAO spent most of three days drafting it. “Still, the Fourth Amendment obligated the United States to ‘diligently obtain[ ] a … Continue reading
CA9: Bringing police with criminal investigative motive to execute admin. warrant was unreasonable
An administrative inspection warrant is based on a programmatic probable cause standard, and not probable cause to believe that a crime occurred. Using the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office to help do a City of Lancaster administrative entry and search … Continue reading
CA8: Police shooting of man with gun who hadn’t pointed it without warning was unreasonable
The use of deadly force here wasn’t reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The shooting victim had a gun in hand but he hadn’t threatened the officer with it. The failure to give a warning warn “exacerbate[s] the circumstances” and supports … Continue reading
TN: With no findings of fact, court can look at dashcam video and draw own conclusion suppression was appropriate
The trial court didn’t make findings of fact, so the appellate court can review the dashcam video and draw its own conclusions. “The trial court reviewed the testimony of the only witness and made an implicit finding that his testimony … Continue reading
OH5: Trial court’s finding of officer’s credibility where dashcam didn’t help was binding on appeal
The dashcam video was inconclusive on whether defendant stopped, but the trial court credited the officer, and that’s binding on the court of appeals. State v. Blasingame, 2020-Ohio-3087, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 2029 (5th Dist. May 21, 2020).* Two dashcam … Continue reading
M.D.Tenn.: Failure to corroborate everything, even the easy to corroborate, isn’t reckless under Franks
Defendant did not make a substantial preliminary showing that there was a reckless material statement in support of the search warrant. Moreover, “Defendant provides no authority to support his position that an officer’s failure to corroborate a fact that ‘could … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: It was reasonable for officers to open a car door when the driver was parked and unresponsive
Defendant’s car was parked on a Waffle House parking lot from 2-5 am with the headlights on, and it was reasonable for officers to check on the car. Inside was defendant who didn’t respond to them, and it was reasonable … Continue reading
D.Me.: Order of protection between occupants of car is RS
When the officer discovers an order of protection between two people in a car, there is reasonable suspicion to investigate further. United States v. Williams, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91549 (D. Me. May 26, 2020). The police reasonably believed the … Continue reading
NYT: House to Vote on Limiting FBI Power to Collect Americans’ Internet Data NYTimes: House to Vote on Limiting F.B.I. Power to Collect Americans’ Internet Data by Charlie Savage (“Lawmakers compromised on an ambiguously worded amendment that narrows a failed … Continue reading
FL1: Retaining lawfully obtained DNA in CODIS isn’t a separate search subject to 4A
“The retention of a lawfully obtained DNA record on CODIS for future use does not constitute a separate search or implicate the Fourth Amendment.” Porter v. State, 2020 Fla. App. LEXIS 7218 (Fla. 1st DCA May 26, 2020). Defendant was … Continue reading
CA11: Seeing handrolled joint in hand in high crime area was RS
“As Officer Erik Cabrales of the Ocala Police Department and Officer Rodriguez patrolled an apartment complex known for violence and drug sales, they observed Fredericks sitting outside holding a cigarette that had been hand-rolled in brown paper. Cabrales noticed Fredericks … Continue reading
D.N.J.: How this case determined credibility of the witnesses
“The Court credits Officer Pompeo’s testimony because he offered a version of events that is not only plausible but also aligns with the respective motivations of law enforcement and Ms. Rodriguez, in light of other, undisputed facts surrounding the events … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Open container in car justified search
An open container violation is an offense justifying a search of a vehicle for more. United States v. Hoskins, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90256 (E.D. Wis. May 22, 2020).* The stop reached the level of reasonable suspicion before dispatch responded, … Continue reading
techdirt: On The Same Day The FBI Claimed No Vendor Could Crack IPhones, Another Way To Crack IPhones Made The News
techdirt: On The Same Day The FBI Claimed No Vendor Could Crack IPhones, Another Way To Crack IPhones Made The News by Tim Cushing:
AZ: Cell phones are “property” subject to probation searches
“Cell phones provide access to an immense array of private information, much of which is stored in the Cloud or on sites controlled by third parties. As such, the United States Supreme Court concluded in Riley v. California that people … Continue reading
EFF: COVID-19 Patients’ Right to Privacy Against Quarantine Surveillance
EFF: COVID-19 Patients’ Right to Privacy Against Quarantine Surveillance by Adam Schwartz (“Governments around the world are using surveillance technologies to monitor whether COVID-19 patients are complying with instructions to quarantine at home. These include GPS ankle shackles, phone apps … Continue reading
TX13: Affidavit for SW shouldn’t have been admitted at trial, but it was harmless error as cumulative
The state conceded error that the affidavit for defendant’s blood search warrant should not have been admitted into evidence at trial. (Defendant objected to a paragraph of hearsay.) It was, however, harmless error and merely cumulative to what the officer … Continue reading