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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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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)
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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
KS: Warrantless teargassing of house wasn’t under the “civil authority” exclusion under the insurance policy for the damage
Execution of a search warrant might be excluded from insurance coverage on a home under the “civil authority” exclusion under the policy, but here the search was based on the suspect’s flight into the house while wanted for a violent … Continue reading
OH1: Warrantless search of def’s cell phone in kidnapping investigation was reasonable and justified by exigency
The warrantless search of defendant’s apartment, his person, and his cell phone was justified by exigent circumstances under the Fourth Amendment because the still-missing kidnapping victim’s life was in danger. The police reasonably believed that his phone had been used … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Third Leon test essentially shores up PC here
The affidavit for the child pornography search warrant here was issued at least with a reasonable belief in probable cause under the third Leon test. [The court should have just found probable cause because it certainly looks like there is … Continue reading
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and querying the 702 database for evidence of crimes
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and querying the 702 database for evidence of crimes by Orin Kerr:
OH8: 4A IAC claim requires defendant allege and offer proof of standing
Defendant doesn’t allege any facts to support that he had standing such that a motion to suppress would be granted. Therefore, no IAC shown. State v. Musleh, 2017-Ohio-8166, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4533 (8th Dist. Oct. 12, 2017).* Defendant’s 2255 … Continue reading
CA5: Minivan and FedEx truck meeting up twice in commercial parking lots at 2am when FedEx is never there is RS
Officers had reasonable suspicion for stop of a minivan and a FedEx truck because they met up in a commercial parking lot at 2 am, and the officer on patrol in that area had never seen a FedEx truck at … Continue reading
D.Utah: Officer apparently still had DL when consent sought; motion to suppress granted
The record doesn’t show when defendant got his license and paperwork back from the officer before consent was sought, but it all appears that consent was sought when defendant and his passenger would not feel free to leave [or able … Continue reading
Miami Herald: Guantánamo guards seize confidential Sept. 11 terror trial defense files
Miami Herald: Guantánamo guards seize confidential Sept. 11 terror trial defense files by Carol Rosenberg: In the latest challenge to attorney-client confidentiality here, prison guards on Wednesday seized the court-approved, non-networked laptop computers and hard drives issued to the accused … Continue reading
NYTimes: A Big Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations
NYTimes: A Big Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations by Amanda Ripley:
DE: 14 yo could consent to entry to look for missing person
The search of the house was valid both by apparent authority to consent and the emergency aid doctrine. The victim was missing, and the consenter was a 14 year old with a key. The consent was solely to look for … Continue reading
D.Kan.: CP SW not stale [are they ever?]
The search warrant for child pornography was not stale, based on the officer’s experience. [Since no case has ever found staleness in child pornography cases, why don’t they just cut to the chase and take judicial notice?] United States v. … Continue reading
CA6: 4A claim barred by Heck so appeal summarily affirmed
Plaintiff’s civil rights Fourth Amendment claim is barred by Heck because it necessarily calls into question the validity of the underlying conviction. The claim is barred on its face, so qualified immunity is moot. West v. Saginaw Twp. Police Dep’t, … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice Department creates watchdog for asset forfeiture program
WaPo: Justice Department creates watchdog for asset forfeiture program by Sari Horowitz: Attorney General Jeff Sessions is setting up a unit in the Justice Department to oversee a policy he reinstated to help state and local police take cash and … Continue reading
CA2: Correcting the alleged false statements in affidavit still leaves PC so officials have QI
Deleting the allegedly false information from the affidavit for search warrant leaving it as a “corrected” affidavit under Franks, there still was a fair probability for probable cause. That there might be other explanations doesn’t undermine probable cause. Therefore, defendants … Continue reading
IAC claims fail because of conclusory allegations or inability to show prejudice
Defendant’s conclusory 2255 allegations of IAC fail. “Defendant does not establish that, had counsel objected to the indictment and moved to suppress evidence, that the objections and motions would have been granted and that the outcome of his trial would … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Email warrant for all material so it can be electronically and specifically searched was reasonable
The email search warrant produced 430,081 items, and the database provided then had to be searched. That complied with the terms of the search warrant and the Fourth Amendment because it still provided particularity. United States v. Aboshady, 2017 U.S. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Human eye may see what video doesn’t capture, so video not conclusive against officer’s basis for stop
The dashcam video doesn’t support what the officer testified to seeing, but it was a different angle, and the court finds that people can see what a video cannot (citing authority). The audio supports the officer’s basis for the stop, … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Def’s having keys and free access to girlfriend’s apt gives him standing, but the protective sweep was clearly justified
Defendant has standing to challenge the search of his girlfriend’s apartment because he has keys and stays there when he wants to without limitation. “Therefore, the Defendant argues that the Defendant has at least as much of a privacy interest … Continue reading