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- D.Conn.: Pole camera on def’s house and curtilage didn’t show inside house, so it’s reasonable
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- Reason: Documents Reveal the Postal Service’s Broad Surveillance of Political Activists
- CA4: Not having child in a booster seat justified stop
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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"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
The Future of Privacy Law, Yale Law Journal (collection)
The Future of Privacy Law, Yale Law Journal, Vol. 128 (Apr. 1, 2019): Rapid technological change has led some to question whether modern Fourth Amendment doctrine appropriately protects individual privacy. This Collection considers that question across four domains: warrantless electronic … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: The Common Law Endures in the Fourth Amendment
New Law Review Article: The Common Law Endures in the Fourth Amendment by George C. Thomas III: Abstract and Introduction:
IA: Multiple hand-to-hand transactions over time was RS
Reasonable suspicion came here from an officer “witnessing what he believed to be a hand-to-hand drug transaction,” and there were “other facts that supported the conclusion they had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. First, Girsch saw Baker acting suspiciously near … Continue reading
TN: Riley would not be applied retroactively on post-conviction
In a post-conviction case, Riley wouldn’t be applied retroactively by statute to defendant’s cell phone search incident legal before it was decided. Sayles v. State, 2019 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 193 (Mar. 28, 2019). The stop was based on a … Continue reading
W.D.Va.: Proving the Heck bar requires defs to put copies of underlying documents into the record
Defendants don’t get the benefit of a Heck bar without putting the papers of the underlying case into evidence. “As stated, court records online indicate that two felony drug charges have been dismissed. Without copies of relevant court documents and … Continue reading
D.S.C.: Byrd on standing in a rental car not retroactively applied to search 7 months before
The officer was diligently pursuing the traffic stop albeit with a mixed motive about defendant being a drug suspect. Under Whren, this was reasonable. Byrd was decided seven months after the stop. Under pre-Byrd law, defendant had no standing, and … Continue reading
D.Neb.: A child locked in a basement while a party was going on upstairs was exigency
A concerned citizen called the police to report a small child was locked in his neighbor’s basement, and there was a party going on in the house. When police got there they entered without a warrant based on exigency. United … Continue reading
ID: Entry on a writ of execution was reasonable under 4A
A state officer acting on a writ of execution issued by a state court was reasonable. Moreover, plaintiff’s claim is really just a suggestion in a pleading, not in the complaint. Thornton v. Barrett, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53388 (D. … Continue reading
D.Ore..: Running drug dog around car after a DUI arrest was reasonable
Defendant was arrested for DUII and there was probable cause. “As Mr. Aruiza-Andrade was under arrest, the further delay while a canine was summoned did not unlawfully extend the traffic stop.” United States v. Aruiza-Andrade, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53788 … Continue reading
CT: 2010 CSLI in violation of state statute and later Carpenter suppressed
The state got prospective CSLI in 2010 which it ultimately admitted was obtained in violation of state statute. The statute, moreover, permitted the state’s discovery of CSLI on reasonable suspicion. Carpenter was violated, although it came in 2018, as well … Continue reading
MD: The actual inventory is the list of what was seized, not necessarily from exactly where it was seized
“What the inventory must list, as was properly done in this case, is the property that was actually seized, not the rooms that were searched. To describe the scope of the search is not the function of an inventory list.” … Continue reading
MA: Scope of probation search wasn’t justified by the RS
The probation search of defendant’s bedroom wasn’t justified by the reasonable suspicion that authorized it. “The Commonwealth’s contention that Valenti’s entry into the bedroom was justified as a protective sweep is equally unavailing.” Special needs didn’t work for the state … Continue reading
Army: Def’s housing was under control of the Ft. Benning Cmdr and the search authorization was valid
The search authorization by the base commander was issued with probable cause. Defendant’s housing in a separate property with Ft. Benning was part of the base and was a sub-property of the Ranger school. The commander’s authority extended to it, … Continue reading
OH4: Ohio implied consent statute for blood draw survives Birchfield
“It is true that the United States Supreme Court has recently determined, in Birchfield v. North Dakota, 136 S.Ct. 2160, 2162, 2172-2186 (2016), that ‘the taking of a blood sample or the administration of a breath test is search[,]’ and … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Tasering pft who refused to be handcuffed during traffic stop was reasonable
“After defendants took plaintiff to the ground, he still did not comply with instructions to put his hands behind his back. Plaintiff’s hands were beneath him, and defendants reasonably believed that he may have been reaching for a weapon. It … Continue reading
WaPo: A mom refused to take her unvaccinated toddler to the hospital for a fever. Armed police officers tore down the door.
WaPo: A mom refused to take her unvaccinated toddler to the hospital for a fever. Armed police officers tore down the door. by Antonia Noori Farzan:
CA11: Failure to object to USMJ’s R&R on search claim is waiver for appeal
Defendant waived his suppression motion by not seeking review of the USMJ’s R&R. United States v. Pugh, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 9254 (11th Cir. Mar. 28, 2019). “The Court need not determine whether any of these facts alone would be … Continue reading
ID: Old faded “no trespassing” sign that was apparently not prominent wasn’t notice officer couldn’t enter curtilage
Defendant’s argument that his single old and faded “No Trespassing” sign was enough to revoke any implied license to approach his house is rejected. The court leaves open the possibility in a factually more stark case one sign could be … Continue reading
NYTimes: D.E.A. Secretly Collected Bulk Records of Money-Counter Purchases
NYTimes: D.E.A. Secretly Collected Bulk Records of Money-Counter Purchases by Charlie Savage:
E.D.N.Y.: Govt’s possession of cell phone for nine months waiting to decrypt password isn’t unreasonable
Defendant’s phone has been in the hands of the government for many months, but defendant refused to provide the password to access the phone. That justifies the delay in the government accessing the phone. The motion for return of property … Continue reading