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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 -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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
CNS: ACLU Sues ICE for Warrants in Dallas-Area Workplace Raid
CNS: ACLU Sues ICE for Warrants in Dallas-Area Workplace Raid by David Lee: DALLAS (CN) – The American Civil Liberties Union sued federal immigration officials Wednesday, demanding the search warrants for a raid last year at a Dallas-area electronics repair … Continue reading
CA11: 4A claims not cognizable for successor habeas
Petitioner’s Fourth Amendment claims can’t be the basis for a successor habeas because none of the statutory grounds are available here. In re Hammond, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 3419 (11th Cir. Feb. 4, 2020):
Boston Globe: Editorial: Facial-recognition tech may have value, but real-time surveillance goes too far
Boston Globe: Editorial: Facial-recognition tech may have value, but real-time surveillance goes too far (“Software that identifies people in videos could create a privacy nightmare. A patchwork of city bans won’t prevent it.”)
Vice: Michigan Cops Seized This Woman’s Car After Her Then-Boyfriend Allegedly Picked Up a Prostitute
Vice: Michigan Cops Seized This Woman’s Car After Her Then-Boyfriend Allegedly Picked Up a Prostitute by Emma Ockerman (“She was never accused of a crime and went bankrupt paying the fines to get her car back.”)
Vox: Why we don’t know as much as we should about police surveillance technology
Vox: Why we don’t know as much as we should about police surveillance technology by Rebecca Heilweil (“Despite a growing number of high-tech tools, law enforcement agencies don’t seem to want to disclose what they’re using.”)
S.D.Ga.: When the R&R has two bases, objections have to go to both
The R&R determined that there was no “search” for Fourth Amendment purposes, and if there was, it was reasonable. On review by the USDJ, the failure to challenge the “no search” holding isn’t a proper objection. United States v. Oury, … Continue reading
MO: Def’s stop became a seizure with RS and search of backpack was without PC
Defendant was stopped walking with another to a hotel in Columbia, Missouri by an officer pulling up behind them and turning on the patrol car’s emergency lights. Back up arrived, and defendant and his companion were told to put the … Continue reading
CO: State can assert new grounds to support search after remand
After a remand, the state is free to raise new grounds to support the search. People v. Tallent, 2020 COA 14, 2020 Colo. App. LEXIS 127 (Jan. 30, 2020). “A bare assertion of authorization from a third party along with … Continue reading
IL: Truck inspection search was with RS from suspect log book and wrong seal and locks on cargo door
The truck inspection officer here had reasonable suspicion because the log book looked like it was false, there was an unnecessary private seal on the trailer, and the lock was on the wrong door meaning the load wasn’t protected. Two … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Def’s felony drug arrest after a patdown on RS of fleeing justified search of his car
Defendant was being watched by police, and he was being followed and ran a stop sign. In the stop, the officer told defendant to roll down his window and turn off the car. He rolled the window part way down … Continue reading
CA6: Probation search justified by two drug arrests and posting $125k bond with no job
Defendant’s probation search condition permitted the search here, and officers had reason: He was arrested twice for drug offenses and posted $125,000 in bond despite having no apparent source of income. United States v. Tucker, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 3264 … Continue reading
WY: Plain error does not apply to unargued points in motion to suppress; however, IAC shown on lack of RS to extend stop
Plain error does not apply to any search issue not preserved below. In an IAC claim, defendant showed, even with this limited record, the likelihood that he could have prevailed in a motion to suppress for lack of reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
OR: Automobile exception still applies; availability of telephonic warrants doesn’t obviate it
Oregon passes on an invitation to impose a warrant requirement on all vehicle searches just because telephonic warrants should make them required in every case. The automobile exception applies, and the state did not have to show the realistic probability … Continue reading
D.Mont.: A reasonable motorist would not think the stop had ended here just because warning ticket handed over; never told free to go
After the traffic stop was completed and the warning handed over, the officer’s continuing the conversation not a consensual extension of the stop. The officer never said he could leave and then attempted to start the conversation. United States v. … Continue reading
MA: Where passenger can drive car away and avoid impoundment, inventory is “reasonably necessary”
When a passenger can drive the vehicle away, the police cannot impound it because impoundment isn’t “reasonably necessary.” Commonwealth v. Goncalves-Mendez, 2020 Mass. LEXIS 65 (Feb. 3, 2020). A supervisory writ doesn’t lie to attempt to appeal denial of a … Continue reading
Cal.: Mid-trial objection to question based on lack of PC for search was untimely objection to the search
A mid-trial objection to evidence on the ground there was no probable cause for the police action in the search was untimely. It can only be brought during trial if the facts weren’t known until then, and that’s not what … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Despite MMJ law, def rolling a joint when stopped could have his car searched
When defendant was stopped, he was seen rolling a joint. Despite the medical marijuana law, the officer could search the car for more because it was still a violation of federal law. United States v. Hinds, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA9: Officers didn’t use excessive force in wrestling with and handcuffing strong woman having psychotic eposide
Plaintiff’s decedent was a large and strong woman who had an apparent psychotic break and six officers were trying to control her. She stopped breathing and died. Nothing contradicts the officer’s accounts of what happened. The police were called in … Continue reading
CA9: Juvenile detainee’s sexual harassment by guard stated a 14A claim; 4A not raised, and it likely could have been
Sexual harassment of a juvenile detainee stated a violation of the inmate’s right to privacy and bodily integrity under the Fourteenth Amendment. (A Fourth Amendment claim was not raised which the court notes could have been. n.6, below.) Vazquez v. … Continue reading
WGN: Florida troopers find narcotics in bag labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs’
WGN: Florida troopers find narcotics in bag labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs’ (“The Florida Highway Patrol arrested two men suspected of drug trafficking after troopers pulled them over and found drugs in a bag labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs.’ The … Continue reading