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- Reason: Miami Sheriff Hired a Private Law Firm To Pursue—and Profit From—Asset Forfeiture Cases
- D.Conn.: Pole camera on def’s house and curtilage didn’t show inside house, so it’s reasonable
- OH12: Officer’s violation of knock-and-announce statute justifies suppression
- 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,
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)
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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
CA5: Ptf’s 4A claims were Heck barred because they would interfere with the state prosecution.
Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claims were Heck barred because they would interfere with the state prosecution. Shipman v. Sowell, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 8736 (5th Cir. Mar. 23, 2019):
IN: Officer at front door to do knock-and-talk could look through gap in blinds
Officer who was at front of house to do a knock and talk did not conduct an illegal search when he heard noise inside and looked through a gap in the blinds. Jardines is distinguished, and the court used the … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: AirBnB can’t block all discovery of customer’s third-party records
In AirBnB’s case against NYC, the city gets discovery of some of AirBnB’s customer records because it is third-party information subject to disclosure at least to determine the extent of an expectation of privacy. AirBnB, Inc. v. City of New … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Def did nothing to show his standing in the car or the things seized from it
Reasonable suspicion supported the stop for no license plate light. Then, defendant lacks a reasonable expectation of privacy in the car or its contents. “However, neither Defendant’s affidavit nor the evidence adduced at the hearing establish that Defendant had any … Continue reading
NY4: State didn’t show that CI actually existed; reversed
The state didn’t make a sufficient showing required by NY law that the CI actually existed. The motion to suppress should have been granted. People v. Givans, 2019 NY Slip Op 02220, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2237 (4th Dept. … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Factual assertion in SW affidavit based on inference was reasonable and not false
Defendant’s Franks challenge fails. The officer’s assertion of fact was a reasonable inference based on what he saw and wasn’t false. United States v. Cruz-Arroyo, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47172 (D. P.R. Mar. 19, 2019).* Defendant’s Franks challenge fails for … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Unsealing of SW materials not granted preindictment
The Sacramento Bee and defendant seek unsealing of search warrant materials in an extradition matter, but the motion is denied. Extradition is different than prosecution. If a criminal prosecution will result in the United States, and it still could, the … Continue reading
CA10: 404(b) evidence is subject to 4A exclusion, but harmless error applies
404(b) evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment is subject to suppression. United States v. Hill, 60 F.3d 672, 677 (10th Cir. 1995). Here, however, it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Dalton, 2019 U.S. App. … Continue reading
N.D.Va.: False name during traffic stop justified extending stop
Defendant’s providing a false name was enough for the officer to extend the stop with reasonable suspicion. United States v. Boley, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46935 (N.D. Va. Mar. 21, 2019). Revealing the plaintiff’s identity as a CI in a … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Two affidavits of 51 and 72 pages showed they were not “bare bones” and GFE applied
“In this case, Special Agent Dosch, a 22-year veteran of the DEA, submitted a 51-page and 72-page detailed affidavit in support of the search warrants which were based on surveillance, information from confidential informants, financial records, evidence including drug contraband … Continue reading
DE: No nexus shown between cell phone and the crime under investigation
The search warrant application didn’t show a nexus between the phone and the crime under investigation. State v. Reese, 2019 Del. Super. LEXIS 140 (Mar. 18, 2019):
S.D.Ga.: Rule 41(g) doesn’t enable return of property the govt doesn’t have
Property not in the hands of the federal government cannot be ordered returned under Rule 41(g). Administratively forfeited case can’t be returned; there was a remedy. United States v. Morris, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45071 (S.D.Ga. Mar. 19, 2019). Defendant’s … Continue reading
WaPo Retropod: Robert Morris, the creator of the subpoena
WaPo Retropod: Robert Morris, the creator of the subpoena (6:05): The history of subpoenas, and the fiery congressional hearings that have captivated Americans for centuries began with a Founding Father raising his hand to say, “Investigate me!”
TX2: Judge’s failure to swear the SW affiant was fatal despite the fact there was a jurat on the papers that it was under oath
The judge issuing the search warrant didn’t swear the affiant, and the fact that the papers said it was under oath and there is a jurat isn’t enough. Wheeler v. State, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 2233 (Tex. App. – Ft. … Continue reading
NBC: Guests in South Korea motel rooms were filmed, the content streamed, police say
NBC: Guests in South Korea motel rooms were filmed, the content streamed, police say: Four men were arrested for allegedly installing illegal cameras in dozens of motel rooms, then profiting from streaming the feeds to strangers online.
NH: PC for text messages on cell phone permitted search of photographs on the phone as well
A search warrant for cell phones text messages did not prohibit the searchers looking at photographs as well because photographs are commonly included in text messages. There was admittedly probable cause for the text messages, but it here included photographs. … Continue reading
IL: No REP in common hallway of unlocked apartment building; distinguished door dog sniff case
There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in the common area of an unlocked apartment building where observation of handling a gun occurred. The court distinguishes the use of a drug dog at an apartment door which does become a … Continue reading
CA9: Not well settled law that LEO stealing property during a search is 4A violation, so alleged thief gets qualified immunity
The law is not well settled, thus requiring qualified immunity, that a law enforcement officer’s stealing plaintiff’s property during a search is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. (Apparently something that’s obviously an unreasonable seizure doesn’t matter as long as … Continue reading