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- 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
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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)
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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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
Reason: Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito Butt Heads Over the Fourth Amendment, Again
Reason: Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito Butt Heads Over the Fourth Amendment, Again by Damon Root: Gorsuch advances another property rights theory of the Fourth Amendment that Alito rejects.
DE: Totality showed nexus for court ordered GPS on def’s car as suspect in burglaries
The totality of the circumstances showed a logical nexus among burglaries, defendant’s vehicle, and defendant for placement of a GPS by court order. There was a sufficient basis for finding probable cause that defendant was the person who committed the … Continue reading
ID: Hot pursuit onto curtilage led to abandonment of bag of meth
Defendant was speeding, and he was followed by the police. He failed to signal and turned into a long driveway that turned to unpaved, and the officer followed and defendant never slowed despite the police car having its lights on. … Continue reading
Cal.4th: No statutory or inherent authority for a court to impose a search condition as a condition of bail
There is no statutory or inherent authority for a court to impose a search condition as a condition of bail. The defendant is still presumed innocent and still has a reasonable expectation of privacy. In re Webb, 2018 Cal. App. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: A “search and seizure warrant” not only authorized seizure of defendant’s computer but its search
A “search and seizure warrant” not only authorized seizure of defendant’s computer but its search. “Defendant’s argument that the search warrant authorized the seizure—but not the search—of his computer, phone, and computer storage media strains the bounds of logic and … Continue reading
CA7: Summary judgment for gov’t premature in case alleging frame up by crime lab analyst
Summary judgment was improperly granted for the government in a FTCA case that plaintiff was framed by knowingly false testimony from an arson lab analyst. Remanded. Bunch v. United States, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 2283 (7th Cir. Jan. 30, 2018). … Continue reading
HI: Defendant could properly be prosecuted for refusing a breath test, but not a blood test
Defendant could properly be prosecuted for refusing a breath test, but not a blood test. State v. Wilson, 2018 Haw. App. LEXIS 25 (Jan. 26, 2018).* Defendant was a mere passenger in the car searched, and he lacks standing to … Continue reading
DE: Def’s texting victim was nexus to the cell phone
Defendant’s texting the victim gives nexus to the cell phone. There was a temporal limit on the warrant. State v. Rizzo, 2018 Del. Super. LEXIS 44 (Jan. 26, 2018) There was reasonable suspicion for seizure of a FedEx package from … Continue reading
WaPo: U.S. soldiers are revealing sensitive and dangerous information by jogging
WaPo: U.S. soldiers are revealing sensitive and dangerous information by jogging by Liz Sly: An interactive map posted on the Internet that shows the whereabouts of people who use fitness devices such as Fitbit also reveals highly sensitive information about … Continue reading
The Intercept: Transparency Advocates Win Release of NYPD “Predictive Policing” Documents
The Intercept: Transparency Advocates Win Release of NYPD “Predictive Policing” Documents by Ali Winston: Late last month, a Manhattan judge ordered the New York City Police Department to release documentation about the department’s use of secretive and highly controversial ‘predictive … Continue reading
Foreign Policy Research Institute: A Response to “Americans, the NSA is Still Listening: Section 702 is Alive and Well”
Foreign Policy Research Institute: A Response to “Americans, the NSA is Still Listening: Section 702 is Alive and Well” by George W. Croner:
OH8: Failure to put the SW affidavit into evidence at suppression hearing waived def’s challenge
Defendant’s suppression motion made an attempt at a GPS and Franks challenge. After the hearing was over, the warrant and affidavit to procure it were not proffered for the record. This was waiver. State v. Mock, 2018-Ohio-268, 2018 Ohio App. … Continue reading
D.Nev.: UPS employee conducted private search and allowing police to photograph contents did exceed private search
A UPS employee suspected contraband in a package shipped from Las Vegas to Florida, and a supervisor then opened. While it was open, police came and photographed it, and this did not exceed the private search. United States v. Washington, … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Franks challenge fails because there still would be PC
Defendant’s Franks challenge fails because, even accepting it as true, there’s still probable cause. United States v. Barclay, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12061 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 25, 2018).* “Probable cause ‘is not a high bar.’ Kaley v. United States, 134 … Continue reading
DE: No REP in recorded jail calls [obviously]
Defense counsel was not ineffective for not objecting to defendant’s jail calls that he knew were monitored and recorded. Hubbard v. State, 2018 Del. LEXIS 34 (Jan. 25, 2018).* A drug raid led to a strip search of defendant in … Continue reading
FL4: Exigency required finding def’s cell phone to locate a school bus stop shooter
Exigent circumstances in finding a shooter at a school bus stop necessitated the officers pinging the cell phone to locate the shooter. Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging the search because it would have failed. Barton v. State, 2018 … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Application for gag order against GJ witnesses was insufficient
An application for a gag order against grand jury witnesses was insufficient. “The application as currently submitted fails to establish sufficient grounds for a non-disclosure order. First, a particularized showing of need has not been made and, instead, the application … Continue reading
NYTimes: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules
NYTimes: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules by Sheera Frankel: The tech giants are preparing for a stringent new set of data privacy rules in the region, called the General Data Protection Regulation. Set to take effect … Continue reading
OH5: Meeting drug buyer, going home, returning to the place of sale was nexus to house
Defendant met a drug buyer, drove to his house, and reunited with the buyer for the transaction. This gives sufficient probable cause for nexus to house. State v. Detamore, 2018-Ohio-297, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 274 (5th Dist. Jan. 25, 2018). … Continue reading
CO: Def had no REP in the GPS his bondsman made him wear
The defendant was on bail, and his bondsman monitored him by GPS. The police obtained the GPS information to connect him to another crime. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the bondsman’s GPS. People v. Campbell, 2018 COA … Continue reading