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- NY3: No REP in parole GPS monitoring as to police
- TX: An entry into a person’s homestead for civil discovery has limits
- S.D.W.Va.: Subpoenas for records on advocacy positions violated 1A
- CA10: Investigative detention that went on for hours did not become an arrest
- OH8: Inventory saved search that lacked PC or RS
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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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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
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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)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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
Baltimore: AI identifies bag of Doritos in school as a gun
BBC: Armed police handcuff teen after AI mistakes [Doritos chip bag] for gun in US by Liv McMahon & Imran Rahman-Jones (“A US teenager was handcuffed by armed police after an artificial intelligence (AI) system mistakenly said he was carrying … Continue reading
Marketplace: What it’s like to have an AI wearable record everything you say
Imagine: Marketplace: What it’s like to have an AI wearable record everything you say by Matt Levin (“A new generation of wearable AI gadgets can record, transcribe and analyze your every interaction … There’s no widespread adoption of these always-on … Continue reading
NPR: As strikes on alleged drug boats grow, so do questions about their legality and goal
NPR: As strikes on alleged drug boats grow, so do questions about their legality and goal byFranco Ordoñez & Ryan Lucas (“The Trump administration has yet to provide public evidence to support its assertions that the individuals on the boats … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Incomplete series for Netflix was subject of SW
Netflix contracted with defendant to make a series. When it fell through after paying him $44M, they believed they’d been defrauded. The search warrant for what had been completed of the series was potential evidence and properly sought under the … Continue reading
TX2: Basis for SW wasn’t inadmissible “hearsay”
What shows the basis for seeking a search warrant is not inadmissible “hearsay.” Williams v. State, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 8224 (Tex. App. – Ft. Worth Oct. 23, 2025). “But the government has grounds to search a known drug dealer’s … Continue reading
OH5: Oath or affirmation requirement satisfied by GFE
Even if the oath or affirmation technically fails here, the good faith exception saves the warrant. State v. Lucas, 2025-Ohio-4863, 2025 Ohio App. LEXIS 3605 (5th Dist. Oct. 22, 2025). “We conclude that the trial court properly denied the motion … Continue reading
D.P.R.: USMJ doesn’t buy officer’s RS story
USMJ just doesn’t buy that the officer could see drugs in defendant’s hand when he was running. After the stop, they were all in his pockets. United States v. Méndez-Rodríguez, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209314 (D.P.R. Oct. 22, 2025)*:
RawStory: ‘Chilling’: FBI shocks with visits to homes of innocent protesters under Trump’s orders
RawStory: ‘Chilling’: FBI shocks with visits to homes of innocent protesters under Trump’s orders by David Edwards:
CA10: Merely lifting a suitcase or bag is not a search
Merely lifting a suitcase or bag is not a search, whereas squeezing (Bond) would be. United States v. Fernandez, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 27567 (10th Cir. Oct. 22, 2025). The odor of marijuana coming from a house is still probable … Continue reading
CA5: A-C privilege review of seized email doesn’t have to be perfect
In this bank fraud case, the attorney-client privilege review of defendant’s email was “imperfect” but not so bad that the indictment should be dismissed. It clearly doesn’t rise to the level of “outrageous.” Yes, the review could have been done … Continue reading
D.S.C.: RS is based on objective reasonableness, and don’t argue subjective intent contradictorily
For reasonable suspicion the standard is objective reasonableness. Here, the defendant argued subjective intent two ways: embracing it and rejecting it. United States v. Duggan, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206037 (D.S.C. Oct. 20, 2025)*:
S.D.N.Y.: Accidental seizure of attorney-client jail calls doesn’t lead to exclusion of non-legal calls
Use of plaintiff’s non-privileged prison calls as evidence was not a Fourth Amendment violation. The fact attorney-client calls were also seized but were segregated and not used as evidence doesn’t state a claim. Criscuolo v. Brandow, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
AP: Judge wants immigration agents in Chicago area to wear body cameras after clashes with public
With credibility concerns, Judge wants immigration agents in Chicago area to wear body cameras after clashes with public by AP’s Christine Fernando AP.
E.D.Ark.: There is no 4A claim by a dead person
There is no Fourth Amendment claim by a dead person. “Because the investigation failures and denial of access to the Courts are based on facts alleged to have occurred entirely after decedent’s death, Plaintiff cannot assert these claims either on … Continue reading
MSNBC: Just how many ‘Kavanaugh stops’ have American citizens been forced to endure?
MSNBC: Just how many ‘Kavanaugh stops’ have American citizens been forced to endure? by Steve Benen (“Many American citizens have been detained recently by ICE agents who thought they might be undocumented immigrants. But how many is ‘many’? When the … Continue reading
Reason: SCOTUS Probably Won’t Put Any New Limits on Warrantless Home Searches
Reason: SCOTUS probably won’t put any new limits on warrantless home searches by Damon Root:
S.D.N.Y.: No REP in one’s talking to oneself in a building elevator that security cameras picked up
Plaintiff had no reasonable expectation of privacy in talking to himself in his building elevator. Therefore, Title III didn’t apply. He knew there was video recording but not audio. “While in the elevator, Plaintiff writes that that is when he … Continue reading
TX3: Failure to swear application for electronic warrant was fatal defect
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the officer who prepared an electronic BAC warrant in the patrol car was not sworn to tell the truth based on the body cam. That was a fatal defect. … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: No REP in a contraband cell phone in prison
There is no standing in a contraband cell phone in prison. United States v. Pouncy, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202490 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 14, 2025). The trial court properly limited the time frame of this warrant when an overbreadth challenge … Continue reading