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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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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
CA11: Ptf’s claim officers falsified seizure of crack was speculative; MSJ properly granted
Plaintiff was the subject of a search for drugs, and officers at first found only marijuana. In defendant’s kitchen, in a coffee maker, officers found what they believed was a rock of crack cocaine. It was submitted to the crime … Continue reading
CA5: Protective sweep of bedroom def was going in was valid, but rest of house was not
Defendant did not consent to a search for his firearms. The seizure of one from his bedroom was valid because it was justified by officer safety that he was going into the bedroom to get dressed, and officers looked there … Continue reading
MI: Policy to photograph and fingerprint detainees violated 4A and stated claim against city
The Grand Rapids Police Department has a policy permitting officers to photograph and fingerprint people who are stopped just because they want to. The plaintiffs stated a claim for relief against the city for its policy. Johnson v. Vanderkooi, 2018 … Continue reading
CA6: SW’s flexibility as to when it could be executed didn’t make it an anticipatory warrant with a triggering condition
The search warrant reasonably provided flexibility as to when it would be executed, but it was not an anticipatory warrant at all. United States v. Huntley, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 20956 (6th Cir. July 30, 2018):
D.Kan.: Appellate counsel’s declining to appeal “including but not limited to” in the search warrant was not IAC
Appellate counsel’s declining to appeal the use of the phrase “including but not limited to” in the search warrant was not unreasonable because, as defendant admits, it does not per se lead to unreasonable searches. United States v. Ransom, 2018 … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Def lived with his grandfather, and the “presumption of consent” in a familial relationship was apparent to officers
Defendant lived with his grandfather, and the familial relationship is different than that of a co-tenant. The evidence apparent to the officers was that the grandfather had control of the premises, and the grandson slept either in a bedroom or … Continue reading
OH2: Ptf’s claims decided in criminal case were res judicata to civil case over same search
Res judicata barred plaintiff’s claims against the county for illegal search already decided against him in the criminal case. Cooper v. Montgomery County Sheriff, 2018-Ohio-2965, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 3208 (2d Dist. July 27, 2018). “Based on the totality of … Continue reading
KS: Warning officers about self-incrimination at suppression hearing deterrent enough; no exclusion
Kansas police officers can go outside their jurisdiction when requested to do so. Kansas statute implies an exclusionary remedy. Here, the officers appear to have violated the statute, but the district court warned the officers against self-incrimination at the hearing … Continue reading
D.Utah: Officers had no objective information supporting exigency for entry
The officers had no objective information that even suggested that a protective sweep was required here, and the warrantless entry into the home was unreasonable. Moreover, the claimed consent wasn’t voluntary. United States v. Lawley, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125920 … Continue reading
FL2: Car outside motel room can’t be searched under SW for room; it’s not “curtilage”
Police surveilled three motel rooms for drug activity, and finally they procured a search warrant for the three rooms. They also searched the cars associated with those rooms under the theory the cars were within the curtilage of the motel … Continue reading
D.N.M.: GFE applies to CA10’s Ackerman that NCMEC is not a private searcher
In United States v. Ackerman, 831 F.3d 1292 (10th Cir. 2016), the Tenth Circuit held that NCMEC was not a mere private actor when it opened emails. Defendant’s search was 2012, and the court applies the good faith exception. At … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Pre-Carpenter CSLI obtained without search warrant is admissible under GFE
Pre-Carpenter CSLI obtained without search warrant is admissible under Davis good faith exception. United States v. Hearst, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126005 (N.D. Ga. July 3, 2018), adopted 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125791 (N.D. Ga. July 27, 2018). The search … Continue reading
KS: Pleading facts doesn’t plead specific 4A claims; this specific claim is waived for lack of development below
Defendant’s argument in the district court was that the package was subjected to detention without reasonable suspicion, and he did not argue that the package was detained too long. His statement of facts isn’t enough for the court to have … Continue reading
NY2: Defense counsel not ineffective for not challenging cell phone search that apparently would lose
“Counsel’s failure to challenge the [cell phone] search warrant can be explained as a legitimate trial strategy because the application for the warrant was supported by probable cause, and the warrant was not unconstitutionally overbroad, despite a technical defect on … Continue reading
FL4: Parkland school shooting videos obtained by SW subject to state FOIA
After the Parkland FL school shooting, police got a search warrant for all the school video. The news media then made a public records request for it all, which the court found reasonable. “The evidence presented by the Media establishes … Continue reading
Forward: Justice Brandeis Was Right About Technology — 90 Years Before The Courts
Forward: Justice Brandeis Was Right About Technology — 90 Years Before The Courts by Joshua Z. Rokach:
ND: No PC for shipped package, but there was for def’s house
Police lacked probable cause for the search warrant for a package defendant was shipping just because they suspected it contained cash for drugs. There were suspicions because of volunteered explanations when he was shipping it, but no probable cause and … Continue reading
NE: State dropping count CI was witness in keeps identity under wraps; can’t show materiality to other counts
The CI was used to get the search warrant for drugs in defendant’s house. During the search, the CI said there would be a gun, and officers found it. Later, the state chose not to pursue the drug charge but … Continue reading
CA9: Virtual knowing Franks violation leads to suppression of immigration search before BIA
Petitioner established that the warrant for employment records sought by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was based on knowingly material omissions and thus qualified as an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment for an immigration proceeding. Frimmel Mgmt. v. United … Continue reading
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Mississippi cops went to the wrong house and killed an innocent man. A grand jury just refused to indict them.
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Mississippi cops went to the wrong house and killed an innocent man. A grand jury just refused to indict them. by Radley Balko: After just over a year, we finally have some news about the death … Continue reading