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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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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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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
CA8 upholds Playpen warrant strictly on GFE despite Rule 41 violation
Playpen warrant upheld purely on good faith exception of Davis and Herring. Rule 41 was violated, but the court finds the costs of exclusion outweight deterrence, particularly where the rule was modified to permit such later warrants. United States v. … Continue reading
CA10: Where one in car flashed gun in a bar, it was reasonable to order occupants to ground when stopped
Defendant was seen flashing a gun in a bar in Colorado, and police got a specific description including hair braids and dress from the wait staff. When the car was seen, officers ordered the occupants out and to the ground … Continue reading
CA9: § 1983 Franks violation: Ignoring alleged false statements still leaves PC
A search warrant was issued for alleged violations of the building code. Ignoring any alleged false statements that led to issuance of the search warrant, there still was probable cause. Gunnels v. Kenny, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 13204 (6th Cir. … Continue reading
OR: Emergency aid exception applies to animals in distress
The emergency aid exception applies to animals in distress. Here it was cattle. State v. Hershey, 286 Ore. App. 824, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 907 (July 19, 2017). There was plenty of probable cause, but defendant’s Franks argument that the … Continue reading
NE: Reach under seat during traffic stop was RS
The officer suspected that a wanted person was in the car defendant was in and stopped it. As he approached the car, the driver reached under the seat. The wanted person wasn’t found, but there was reasonable suspicion from the … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: PC for def’s cell phone was shown by his social media postings
Defendant might not have standing but there was probable cause, so standing doesn’t have to be decided. Probable cause for the search warrant for defendant’s cell phone was predicated on his social media postings of him holding firearms, and they … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Seizure of months of CSLI was proper to connect def to a particular place
Months of historical CSLI, rather than just three day’s worth, was properly acquired by the government to show defendant’s connections to the property at issue. The third party doctrine provides defendant no relief [yet]. United States v. Serrano, 2017 U.S. … Continue reading
D.Md.: 2255 Franks IAC claim fails for not showing what the false statements were and how PC was undermined
Defendant’s 2255 Franks IAC claim fails for not showing what the false statements were and how probable cause was undermined. United States v. Johnson, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112806 (D. Md. July 20, 2017). Defendant’s moving his hands around in … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Defs can’t show taint from alleged illegal bugs and all that was acquired afterward in this wide-ranging investigation
There were stationary bugs that recorded conversations, and the government has declined to use them at trial after much litigation. Still, there is “a heap of incriminating evidence” derived from all kinds of sources, and the court won’t suppress all … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: The time limit for execution of a SW doesn’t apply to the off-site search of a computer seized
The time limit for the search to occur in the warrant is for the place to be searched. When computers are seized under the warrant to be searched elsewhere, they are not subject to that time limit. United States v. … Continue reading
DC: Time and proximity to a crime are important in RS, but here it was lacking
Time and proximity are important in the reasonable suspicion calculus. The closer in time with proximity to the scene of a crime, the more likely the suspect is involved in the suspected or already occurred criminal activity. Here, however, two … Continue reading
NYTimes: A Warrant to Search Your Vagina
NYTimes: A Warrant to Search Your Vagina by Andrea J. Ritchie:
E.D.Tenn.: Triggering event for anticipatory warrant not met, and suppression granted
The specific triggering event for this anticipatory warrant was handing the package to defendant, but that did not happen. The police entered anyway and seized. The Sixth Circuit recognizes that the triggering event has to be considered in a common … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Single key in the ignition adds nothing to RS
The stop was unreasonably prolonged without reasonable suspicion. All the officer had was nervousness (belied by the video), one passenger had no bag in the car, and a single key was in the ignition. United States v. Flores, 2017 U.S. … Continue reading
M.D.La.: Any exigency ended with def’s arrest; no facts showed others present
Any exigency involving defendant in his house evaporated when he was arrested and handcuffed. The mere possibility others are present can be exigency, but it requires pointing to actual facts, not possibilities. The court credits defendant’s own testimony damaging to … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Use of drug dog in hotel hallway wasn’t at all like invading the curtilage in Jardines
Use of a drug dog in a hotel hallway that produced an alert on defendant’s room’s door was not unreasonble under Jardines. A hotel hallway, accessible to many people, cannot be compared to the curtilage of a home. United States … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Laptop in car was in plain view for seizure where there was PC it contained evidentiary information
Defendant’s laptop was in plain view when it was seized from his car when defendant was arrested because the police believed that stolen credit card information would be on it. United States v. Prado, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111954 (W.D. … Continue reading
D.Ore.: Gov’t’s mishandling of overseizure in Facebook SW didn’t prejudice defs so no suppression
The Facebook warrant was not overbroad, and it was consistent and less intrusive than a Facebook warrant previously approved by the Ninth Circuit in Flores. That which was nonresponsive to the warrant was previously ordered segregated and sealed, and the … Continue reading