Archives
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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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
DE: Nervousness alone isn’t RS to extend a stop
Defendant’s motion to suppress is granted. About all the officer could show was that defendant was nervous, and that’s not reasonable suspicion to extend this stop. The questioning of defendant about his travel plans wasn’t any aid to the state … Continue reading
OH5: Def’s wrecked empty car on road to house justified entry onto curtilage to check on potential injury
Defendant’s car was upside down and there was blood on the passenger air bag. Nobody was there. The officer went to the house where the car was registered to find the driver and passenger. “Present in this case was a … Continue reading
N.D.W.Va.: CI’s tale about another’s safety is entitled to greater weight
Defendant argued that the officer’s use of “several firearms” cases in the affidavit for the search warrant was misleading under Franks. Since “several” means, essentially, more than one and not too many, and defendant’s priors aren’t yet firmly known, this … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Def’s probation cell phone search was justified
Because of defendant’s arrest, his probation officers had a great interest in searching his cell phone as a probation search. His arrest showed that he likely wasn’t complying with the law. United States v. Harding, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119276 … Continue reading
Four on traffic stops
Defendant’s consent was voluntary although she had just driven 24 hours straight and she was not informed that she could refuse consent, given her age, education, and the short questioning period. The traffic stop of defendants was not improperly prolonged … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: In a Playpen case, planting software on a computer to cause it to transmit its address is “unquestionably a search”
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in IP addresses, but planting software on a computer to cause it to transmit its address is “unquestionably a search.” Recognizing the split of authority, Rule 41 was violated, but the court declines … Continue reading
OH8: Video belied testimony about stop; suppression should have been granted
The trooper testified that defendant swerved within lanes, but it was not supported by the video and defendant wasn’t even cited for that. Thus, the motion to suppress should have been granted. City of Cleveland v. Shevchenko, 2016-Ohio-5711, 2016 Ohio … Continue reading
SC: ABC license inspection did not violate 4A because it’s a “pervasively regulated industry”
This “alcoholic beverage license inspection did not violate the Fourth Amendment because the ‘pervasively regulated industry’ exception to the warrant requirement applied.” S.C. Dep’t of Revenue v. Meenaxi, Inc., 2016 S.C. App. LEXIS 111 (Sept. 7, 2016). Defendant did not … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: “Reasonable cause” for production of taxpayer information from the IRS in a public corruption investigation is less than PC
“Reasonable cause” for production of taxpayer information from the IRS in a public corruption investigation is less than “probable cause.” USMJ denial of order overruled. In re United States for Taxpayer Return Information, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119895 (E.D.Ky. Sept. … Continue reading
MO: Chicken coop inside barbed wire fence tho 100′ from house within curtilage
Defendant’s chicken coop with drugs inside was a fair distance from the house, but it was still within the curtilage. Applying all the Dunn factors, they favor defendant. It was inside a primary barbed wire fence and the contents weren’t … Continue reading
NC: Failure to give inventory to target of search doesn’t lead to suppression
The inventory to be given to the person from whom stuff was seized has to be given, but a failure to comply doesn’t warrant suppression. It’s after the search so it doesn’t involve the right to be free from unreasonable … Continue reading
No cases for two days; initiated act litigation
Initiated act litigation in Arkansas occurs in late August-September every even numbered year. Under Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution, they are original actions in the Arkansas Supreme Court disposed of on super compressed schedules. The first one had the … Continue reading
ABAJ: Chemerinsky: What will the presidential election mean for SCOTUS? [One of those Duh! articles]
ABAJ: Chemerinsky: What will the presidential election mean for SCOTUS?
Courthouse News Service: Teachers Fight DC’s Random Drug Tests
Courthouse News Service: Teachers Fight DC’s Random Drug Tests by Tim Ryan: WASHINGTON (CN) — An association of 75 private schools sued the District of Columbia for threatening to pull their licenses if they do not subject teachers to “random … Continue reading
Philly: Should ex-Philly cop suspected of sharing child porn be forced to divulge computer passwords?
Philly: Should ex-Philly cop suspected of sharing child porn be forced to divulge computer passwords? by Chris Palmer: If police think someone has child pornography on his computer, should investigators be able to force him to provide his passwords – … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Sweating and nervous def was not RS for a parole search
That defendant was sweating and nervous was not reasonable suspicion for a parole search. United States v. Hopkins, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117742 (N.D.Cal. Aug. 31, 2016). The government’s surveillance supports the conclusion there was probable cause for the search … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Probable cause did not become stale as defendant drove from Philadelphia to Erie with drugs
Probable cause did not become stale as defendant drove from Philadelphia to Erie with drugs. United States v. Andino, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117097 (E.D.Pa. Aug. 31, 2016). “The fifteen minute period between Defendant’s initial stop and the contested canine … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Fact officer went back and looked again doing inventory didn’t prove it was investigative
The fact the officer doing the inventory went back and looked again because he thought he missed something or value doesn’t prove that the inventory was unreasonable. United States v. Williams, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117530 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 31, 2016):
S.D.Ga.: General motion to suppress inadequate and denied
Defendant’s motion merely alleging he was subjected to a warrantless search is too general to mean a thing. United States v. Bostic, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115636 (S.D.Ga. Aug. 29, 2016):