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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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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
PA: Telling computer repair person to move files to a new hard drive was a waiver of REP
Defendant essentially waived his reasonable expectation of privacy in his computer hard drive when he took it in for repair, was told that the hard drive was failing and he needed a new one, and then directed them to move … Continue reading
NY3: Failure to raise scope of consent to search in trial court is waiver
The car defendant back seat passenger was in was stopped for a traffic violation, and there was a furtive movement by the front seat passenger just before the vehicle came to a stop. The driver said they were going to … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: SI of duffle bag at feet of handcuffed suspect reasonable when he wouldn’t answer questions about having gun
Search incident of defendant’s duffle bag was reasonable because, while handcuffed, his hands were relatively mobile around his waist and he refused to answer questions about whether he had a gun. United States v. Veach, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209971 … Continue reading
Mother Jones: Pot Legalization Is Transforming California’s Criminal Justice Landscape. Here’s How.
Mother Jones: Pot Legalization Is Transforming California’s Criminal Justice Landscape. Here’s How. by Brandon E. Patterson: “Smoking pot while black” will probably still be a thing, though.
Forbes: What’s To Come As Government Surveillance Sunsets With 2017?
Forbes: What’s To Come As Government Surveillance Sunsets With 2017? by Frank Miniter:
D.Ariz.: ICE detainer signed by ICE officer on PC doesn’t violate 4A
An ICE detainer signed by an ICE officer authorizing a hold for up to 48 hours on top of state charges was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Gomez-Robles, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211348 (D. Ariz. … Continue reading
NY4 declines to extend state const. and warrant requirement to CSLI
The state used CSLI and cell records on less than probable cause to connect defendant to a robbery victim. These are business records, and the court declines to extend a higher state constitutional standard to CSLI but recognizing that other … Continue reading
D.Haw.: Authorized third party’s access of def’s security video from cloud not unreasonable nor was a SW required
“The evolution of technology gives rise, in this particular case, to the question of whether a third-party’s access to a defendant’s personal home surveillance system stored in the cloud (that is, where managed remotely and made available to users over … Continue reading
D.Utah: Officer-caused 2-sec traffic violation was not RS for stop
The officer’s probably unintentional causing of defendant’s traffic violation made the stop unreasonable. Even if the stop was reasonable, there was no reasonable suspicion for continuing it. United States v. Esteban, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211294 (D. Utah Dec. 22, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Search of house for drug trafficking revealed a surveillance system and DVR; it was reasonable to conclude evidence of trafficking would be on it too for a separate SW
When executing a search warrant for drugs and guns, founded on a strong showing of probable cause, and the police finding pounds of methamphetamine and multiple firearms, discovery of surveillance cameras and a DVR not connected to a satellite or … Continue reading
CA10: RS on totality, and most significant factor was occupants’ stories obviously being made up “on the spot”
There was reasonable suspicion on the totality from two factors that didn’t mean a lot on their own (nervousness and unusual travel plans) and one that did: completely inconsistent stories between the driver and passenger obviously being made up “on … Continue reading
MD: Michigan v. Long protective frisk of a car includes looking under floor mats
Defendant was driving in a high crime area and engaging in activity suggesting a drug transaction. When officer stopped his vehicle, he acted suspiciously and made furtive movements. The Michigan v. Long protective sweep of a car includes lifting the … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Police research before the search showed this was a single family dwelling, and it essentially was; remedy for that wouldn’t help def anyway
Defendant argued that the search warrant was overbroad because the property was a multi-family unit. Actually and factually, his argument boils down to: I can lock my door, so I have a separate privacy interest. The officers looked at the … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Despite legalization of recreational marijuana, smell of burnt marijuana in car is RS for detention for impaired driving
Despite the fact the Clark County DA announced they were no longer prosecuting ½ ounce or less marijuana cases along with voters adopting decriminalization of recreational marijuana, defendant’s detention for sleeping in his car in the middle of the Flamingo … Continue reading
DE: SW affidavit based entirely on hearsay is not unconstitutional for that reason alone
A search warrant affidavit based entirely on hearsay is not unconstitutional for that reason alone. The hearsay has to be credible and the collective knowledge doctrine is one way to do so. If probable cause is shown on the totality, … Continue reading
CA10: SW affidavit was detailed, and Franks challenge targeted def’s being in pen during conspiracy; not shown reckless under Franks and GFE applies
Officers obtained a search warrant for defendant’s house for evidence of drug dealing for his being involved with a gang for years. The affidavit was detailed except that it only suggested defendant’s and another’s incarceration for eight years in the … Continue reading
OR: The fact there is some officer discretion in conducting an inventory doesn’t make it violate 4A
The Salem inventory policy requires inventory of closed containers that might have something valuable in them. In defendant’s backpack was a nylon case which the officer believed might contain a computer harddrive or a computer gaming device. The inventory was … Continue reading
OR: When the state argues a stop was continued with RS, it has the burden of proof and here it failed
Defendant was stopped on a bicycle for a headlight violation of what was likely a mixed motive stop because he was carrying a pillow case and that suggested residential burglary. The stop was conceded to be valid, but the continuation … Continue reading
OH8: Dog sniff that didn’t extend traffic stop at all because it was done by another officer was reasonable
The exclusionary rule applies to forfeiture actions (One 1958 Plymouth Sedan) despite the state’s argument. The dog sniff during the normal processing was part of the stop. “Police may conduct a canine sniff during the time that it takes to … Continue reading