Archives
-
Recent Posts
- W.D.La.: Israel’s capture of Palestinian cell phone calls was foreign search in case here
- IN: Officer’s interpretation of traffic law wasn’t reasonable so stop was void
- Gizmodo: How You Could End Up in a Government Surveillance Database and Never Know It
- 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
-
Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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)
-
“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
AR: Search of def’s wallet in a frisk was unreasonable
The officer made a drug arrest in the park, and defendant was around and fidgeting with his hands repeatedly going in and out of his pockets. A frisk of defendant for a weapon was reasonable, but a search of his … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: A civil detainee has no REP in his cell, despite not being a convict
A civil commitment detainee has more rights than a convict in a jail, but still practically none in his living area from a search for alleged contraband. Warrior v. Santiago, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22742 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 12, 2018). … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Weapons tossed by somebody other than def isn’t his abandonment
Weapons tossed by somebody other than the defendant aren’t abandoned as to the defendant. The search was valid as a parole search under state law. United States v. Scott, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217307 (E.D. N.C. Dec. 20, 2017) (R&R). … Continue reading
NOLA considering ordinance to put surveillance cameras in and outside all bars feeding to a city central server
New Orleans has proposed ordinance 32,107 regulating bars, and part is about surveillance systems. This caught my eye because, in college, I first considered the privacy concerns of street cameras being installed here. That was probably 1969-70, and Katz was … Continue reading
CA4: Handcuffing a compliant child at school violated 4A, but officer gets QI
A police officer’s handcuffing a compliant child after a discussion in the school office violated the child’s Fourth Amendment rights. The event was long past with no risk of violence being shown by the child by the time that happened. … Continue reading
California Lawyer: Drone Searches: A New Frontier for the Fourth Amendment
California Lawyer: Drone Searches: A New Frontier for the Fourth Amendment By Kevin Moon and Brandon Franklin: The use of drones spurs reassessment of time-honored privacy concerns.
NYTimes: Facial Recognition Is Accurate, if You’re a White Guy
NYTimes: Facial Recognition Is Accurate, if You’re a White Guy by Steve Lohr: When the person in the photo is a white man, the software is right 99 percent of the time. But the darker the skin, the more errors … Continue reading
MA: Two men walking together are stopped because of RS as to one; frisk of second was reasonable for officer safety
The officer here stopped Perez and Ramirez when he reasonably suspected Perez of carrying a firearm. The situation was tense, and, on the totality, the court finds the frisk of Ramirez, too, was reasonable for officer and public safety. Commonwealth … Continue reading
OH8: Affidavit for SW showed PC for weapons only; search for drugs exceeded SW’s limits
The affidavit only showed probable cause to search for weapons, not drugs, and there was no probable cause for drugs in the affidavit. As to drugs, the search warrant is suppressed. Defendant also raised the argument that the officer sought … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: State law limits on parole and probation’s search authority applies in federal court; it defines the REP
Defendant was subject to a state parole search condition that required reasonable suspicion and is also governed by Griffin’s special needs exception. “the language in a parole search condition is an important factor to consider when assessing the reasonableness of … Continue reading
ME: Nondeadly force can’t be used on a LEO arresting def in def’s own home
“This means that pursuant to section 108(1-A), French was not entitled to use nondeadly force against Ferland—who was trying to arrest her—for the purpose of defending her premises, regardless of the lawfulness of Ferland’s entry into the residence or his … Continue reading
TN: Judge who issued SW can also try the case
It doesn’t violate any law or constitutional provision for a state trial court judge to issue a search warrant and then preside over the trial of the case. McKinley v. State, 2018 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 91 (Feb. 9, 2018). … Continue reading
NE: Even if OnStar produced information the same day before the SW actually issued, inevitable discovery applies
Defendant claimed that the police obtained his OnStar information just before the search warrant for it issued. While that’s not conceded, it doesn’t matter because the search warrant was issued and the information retrieved the same day. Inevitable discovery applies, … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Movant failed to show govt had “callous regard” of rights for early return of property seized
The DEA seized unapproved pain relief products by a search warrant, and the company from which it was seized moved for return of the property. The court finds company hasn’t satisfied the requirements for equitable jurisdiction for return of property … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: The exclusionary doesn’t apply at sentencing
The exclusionary doesn’t apply at sentencing. United States v. Carrillo, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21731 (E.D. N.Y. Feb. 9, 2018):
C.D.Cal.: Strong air freshener isn’t RS to extend a stop
“The Domestic Highway Enforcement Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is a special criminal investigation team employed to patrol Los Angeles County highways in search of criminal activity carried on in vehicles traveling on those highways. The team’s purpose … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: The parole search here violated the state parole search authorization and is suppressed
Defendant was subject to a state parole search condition that required reasonable suspicion and is also governed by Griffin’s special needs exception. “the language in a parole search condition is an important factor to consider when assessing the reasonableness of … Continue reading
D.D.C.: It doesn’t violate Franks to fail to mention a Miranda violation to gain def’s admissions (no violatIon either)
Officers had probable cause for a warrantless arrest of defendant for child pornography. “But Mr. Lieu argues that the names ‘Dave’ and ‘John’ are relatively common names and that the clothing description is too general to support the connection that … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: There was nexus for SW to def’s address from present and observed activities there
“In light of the above, there is a sufficient nexus between defendant and the Bunert address such that it was more likely than not that evidence of drug activity would be at the residence. Defendant was seen at Bunert both … Continue reading