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Recent Posts
- W.D.N.Y.: No due process right to adversarial hearing before issuance of a DNA warrant
- E.D.Wis.: Lifetime GPS monitoring of some sex offenders traveling out of state doesn’t violate 4A
- CA9: With a SW for a murder weapon, a frisk of the occupants is reasonable
- W.D.Mich.: Drug dealers commonly keep proceeds and drugs at home, and that’s nexus
- OH8: For Rodriguez purposes, checking out-of-state DLs just takes longer
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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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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)
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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
WV: GSR removal subject to search incident–no SW required
Taking gunshot residue without a warrant incident to arrest is reasonable because it disappears so fast. [The court analogizes blood alcohol, but GSR can disappear easily within minutes, simply by putting one’s hands in pockets or rubbing hands together.] State … Continue reading
CA11: First offender DNA sample that should have been destroyed under state law but wasn’t could be used in federal prosecution
Under Georgia law, a DNA sample from a first offender should be expunged from the system when he completes his probation or sentence. This one wasn’t. Whatever the statute says, it doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Hinton, … Continue reading
FL2: Protective sweep of curtilage unreasonable; CI’s tip of obvious details to any observer not corroborated
The trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress under the protective sweep exception to the warrant requirement because the trial court’s finding that the detective’s intrusion onto the curtilage was justified for officer safety was not supported by … Continue reading
OH8: Failure to file a pretrial motion to suppress is a waiver of a 4A claim
Failure to file a pretrial motion to suppress is a waiver of a Fourth Amendment claim. State v. Gibson, 2017-Ohio-102, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 107 (8th Dist. Jan 12, 2017). Defendant was stopped for swerving on the highway. When he … Continue reading
IN: Cell phone photograph of SW sent to officer’s phone satisfied the statute for officer to have warrant for search
The officer here needed a search warrant for defendant’s blood for suspicion of DUI. When the warrant was issued, a photograph of it was sent to his cell phone. Defendant objected to the form of the warrant claiming that it … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Sony’s reports of CP on def’s Playstation3 to NCMEC was a private search
Users of Sony’s PlayStation3 communicate with each other through Sony’s PlayStation Network, like email. Sony in its terms of service prohibits transfer of illegal things, and it reserves the right to monitor. Also, 18 U.S.C. § 2258 makes Sony a … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Entry into the curtilage was justified by exigency of a shots fired call
Defendant’s next door neighbor called 911 to report shots fired at defendant’s house. When they arrived, officers set up a perimeter and entry into the curtilage was valid based on exigency, and a cartridge case was seen in plain view. … Continue reading
E.D.Okla.: Search of vehicle on roadside not unreasonable because it started as a proper inventory
Defendant was stopped for his tag light being out, and it resulted in finding that his DL was suspended. That meant that his vehicle would be towed. The inventory by all appearances was starting, because a video showed the inventory … Continue reading
Two on informant hearsay
The CI provided detailed information that all proved to be true involving a shipment of drugs, down to the packaging. While the automobile exception would have supported the search, the police obtained a warrant on the probable cause from the … Continue reading
NC: Def waived issue of RS for appeal by arguing PC instead; on merits, there was RS anyway
Defendant abandons his argument that there was no reasonable suspicion for his stop by providing no argument on reasonable suspicion and instead focusing on probable cause. Going to the record, however, the court finds reasonable suspicion for the stop because … Continue reading
LA4: Search incident for curfew violation arrest was reasonable
An arrest of a juvenile for even the minor offense of a curfew violation justified a search incident when the juvenile was placed in the police car. State ex rel. R.M., 2017 La. App. LEXIS 68 (La.App. 4 Cir. Jan. … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: When state officers seize and hold property in federal case, return of property under Rule 41(g) not possible
State officers obtained a search warrant for defendant’s property which they held but was being used in a federal prosecution. Rule 41(g) does not enable the defendant to get return of property held by state officials even though there is … Continue reading
CA11: Arguable probable cause entitles the officer to qualified immunity, here for a mental health seizure
Arguable probable cause entitles the officer to qualified immunity, here for a mental health seizure. May v. City of Nahunta, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 20501 (11th Cir. Nov. 15, 2016), same result on rehearing, May v. City of Nahunta, 2017 … Continue reading
W.D.Va.: Leaving cell phone outside fed courthouse under ashtray, where CSOs commonly recommended hiding phones, was a waiver of REP in phone, albeit not abandonment
Defendant came to the federal courthouse because his mother was being arrested, and DHS officers invited him there. He did not know that he had an arrest warrant, too. When he got to the courthouse, he was told he couldn’t … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Sex trafficking a minor in a hotel room was exigency for warrantless entry on PC
Defendant rented his hotel room under a known alias of his for which he had an ID card. That gave him standing. The exigency of sex trafficking a minor justified the officer’s warrantless entry, and it’s apparent there was probable … Continue reading
WA: There must be a nexus between the scope of a parole search and what is being looked for
“¶17 We agree with [State v. Jardinez, 184 Wn. App. 518, 338 P.3d 292 (2014)] that the [Sentencing Guidelines] Commission’s comment is strong evidence that the legislature intended that there must be a nexus between the suspected violation and the … Continue reading
IT World: Microsoft’s standing to sue over secret US data requests in question
IT World: Microsoft’s standing to sue over secret US data requests in question by John Ribeiro: The company has objected in a lawsuit to unreasonable US government requests for customer data
VA: While def didn’t have standing as to whole car, he did in the space immediately around him, relying on Jones GPS case
Defendant passenger was removed from a car after a traffic stop, and the officer with the defendant directed another to look for what he thought was a gun, which the other officer found. Defendant was held not to have standing … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice Frankfurter speaks
WaPo: Justice Frankfurter speaks by Orin Kerr: The Harvard Law Library recently posted a neat 46-minute interview of Justice Felix Frankfurter from the early 1960s. Frankfurter, who is interviewed by Professor Paul Freund, speaks about legal education, the role of … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Seizure of years of emails by SW for later discriminating search was still reasonable
This email search warrant sought specific information over a several year period, and the Google production was somewhat limited yet still substantial. Yet, included were emails between attorney and client and there were no search protocols. The court declines to … Continue reading