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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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
NY3: Working meth lab provided exigency for warrantless entry
Officers went to defendant’s house to do a knock-and-talk based on a tip he had a working meth lab. When they knocked, he ran out the back door. The officer positioned there shouted for him to stop and drop what … Continue reading
NE: Where the smell of MJ justifies the search, the finding of a small quantity doesn’t require the search end
Defendant’s stop was for over-tinted windows. The officer could smell burnt marijuana, and he searched finding some in the console. Finding that, he was not obligated to stop searching. State v. Valentine, 27 Neb. App. 332, 2019 Neb. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
OH8: Realtime CSLI was used only to locate def; nothing to suppress
Defendant was called by the police for an interview about a child molestation accusation, and he agreed to meet. He didn’t show. Then the police were concerned maybe he was fleeing and they sought realtime CSLI to locate him. “We … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Handgun hidden in a dog house wasn’t subject to search for exigency
Defendant’s handgun was hidden in a doghouse on the curtilage. The court distinguishes other cases allowing a search for a firearm, particularly one where a loaded shotgun was publicly put in the trunk of a car and the keys left … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def’s giving false name justifies extending stop
Defendant’s giving a false name extended the stop and added to the reasonable suspicion to detain him after his true identity was discovered. United States v. Jackson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188225 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 30, 2019). The affidavit for … Continue reading
NY2: Def has right of access to SW affidavit to attempt to controvert it
Defendant filed his motion to suppress in the blind because didn’t have access to the affidavit for the search warrant. It was denied without a hearing. Remanded: He gets to see it to try to controvert it. People v. Lambey, … Continue reading
CA11: Factual dispute as to where misd arrest occurred, in the house or out, denies QI; it appears force used was excessive
Arguable probable cause supported plaintiff’s misdemeanor arrest, but there is a factual dispute denying qualified immunity to the officers of where exactly the arrest started and how it ended up indoors. That remains for trial. The complaint also survives on … Continue reading
CA3: State law required RS for a parole search
Defendant was a parolee, and the parties argued over whether no suspicion was required for a parole search or reasonable suspicion. The government argued no suspicion required. The parole conditions didn’t specify, but state statute did, and reasonable suspicion is … Continue reading
WA: A purse and a closed pouch within are subject to search incident
Defendant was subject to a valid search incident, and that included not only her purse, but also a pouch within her purse. State v. Richards, 2019 Wash. App. LEXIS 2772 (Oct. 29, 2019). Officers saw defendant and others and ordered … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Franks challenge requires there was a SW
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not seeking a Franks hearing where there was no search warrant in the first place. Freeman v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187171 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 29, 2019). Defendant’s general consent to search a … Continue reading
CA11: RS supported a protective sweep for def after a police foot chase and officers having reason to believe he could have doubled back to the hotel room from where he started
Defendant discovered he was under surveillance at his motel and he fled. Officers came back to his room in 10 minutes, and seeing his car entered his room thinking he had doubled back. He did not abandon his privacy interest … Continue reading
GA: REP in a hotel room expires at checkout time
The reasonable expectation of privacy in a hotel room expires with the checkout time. Lindsey v. State, 2019 Ga. App. LEXIS 623 (Oct. 29, 2019). The defendant officers were properly entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff’s excessive force claim. Also, … Continue reading
The Atlantic: Did Body Cameras Backfire?
The Atlantic: Did Body Cameras Backfire? by Sidney Fussell (“Body cameras were supposed to fix a broken system. What happened?”)
WaPo: ACLU sues FBI, DOJ over facial-recognition technology, criticizing ‘unprecedented’ surveillance and secrecy
WaPo: ACLU sues FBI, DOJ over facial-recognition technology, criticizing ‘unprecedented’ surveillance and secrecy by Drew Harwell (“The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday sued the Justice Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI for records detailing their use of … Continue reading
Reason: Reasonable Suspicion From Driver to Car: A Few Thoughts on Kansas v. Glover
Reason: Reasonable Suspicion From Driver to Car: A Few Thoughts on Kansas v. Glover by Orin S. Kerr Some interesting issues raised by the only Fourth Amendment case currently on the Supreme Court’s docket.
Lexology: Courts continue to consider intersection of Fourth Amendment and technology: without a warrant, retrieval of car’s electronic data unconstitutional, but surveillance on hunting property permissible
Lexology: Courts continue to consider intersection of Fourth Amendment and technology: without a warrant, retrieval of car’s electronic data unconstitutional, but surveillance on hunting property permissible by Brian J. Willett
VA: Def’s refusal to submit to a SW for DNA could be argued as consciousness of guilt at trial
Defendant’s conscious refusal to submit to a DNA buccal swab sought by a search warrant could be argued as consciousness of guilt. Haas v. Commonwealth, 2019 Va. App. LEXIS 237 (Oct. 29. 2019). The officer’s knowledge from nearly six months … Continue reading
AZ: Protective sweep that produced a bullet casing was unjustified (but harmless)
Defendant has standing to challenge the search of a mobile home he had rented even though he had not fully moved in, and the trial court erred in concluding otherwise. The state’s argument the entry into the mobile home required … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def’s furtive movement justified extending the stop
Defendant’s reaching out of sight during a traffic stop was a furtive movement justifying extending the stop and seeing what he was doing. United States v. Edwards, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185987 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 28, 2019).* The protective sweep … Continue reading