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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)
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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. 
Category Archives: Uncategorized
NH: Court can’t force state to search sex case complainant’s cell phone as discovery
In a sex assault case, the trial court did not have the authority to compel the state to search the complainant’s cell phone for voice mails and text messages for the defense as a part of discovery. It’s not the … Continue reading
Cal: Subsequent motions to suppress have to be heard by same judge unless unavailable
California statute that requires same judge hear a subsequent motion to suppress is designed to prevent forum shopping, and it must be complied with unless the same judge is unavailable or just can’t hear the motion. People v. Rodriguez, 2016 … Continue reading
Atlantic: Police Can Use a Legal Grey Area to Rob Anyone of Their Belongings
Atlantic: Police Can Use a Legal Grey Area to Rob Anyone of Their Belongings by Kaveh Waddell: When officers categorize wallets or cellphones as evidence, getting them back can be nearly impossible—even if the owner isn’t charged with a crime.
Orin Kerr on WaPo: New draft article: ‘The Effect of Legislation on Fourth Amendment Interpretation’
Orin Kerr on WaPo: New draft article: ‘The Effect of Legislation on Fourth Amendment Interpretation’:
2016 supplement off to the publisher for December 2016 publication
New law review article: The Original Fourth Amendment by Laura Donohue
New law review article: The Original Fourth Amendment by Laura Donohue, University of Chicago Law Review, Forthcoming. Abstract: The meaning of the rights enshrined in the Constitution provide a critical baseline for understanding the limits of government action — perhaps … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Buying a vehicle and loaning it for a drug run is a loss of the REP; denial of knowledge of a secret compartment is a waiver of the REP
Defendant who bought a vehicle and then loaned it to another to do a drug run lacked standing in the vehicle. “Having provided the Yukon to Sandy for purposes of making the trip to New Orleans, Jorge Gomez thereby relinquished … Continue reading
OH5: Where motion to suppress was actually pursued as a motion in limine, appeal after conditional plea fails
Defendant’s motion to suppress was cast as a motion in limine that the police officers should be barred from testifying because their police car wasn’t properly marked. The trial court denied the motion and defendant conditionally pled. He can’t appeal … Continue reading
Noticed that there are fewer postings? Working on the 2016 supplement
Not to mention 140 hours on an Eighth Circuit brief filed two weeks ago.
Baltimore Brew: Courts share blame for our police accountability problem
Baltimore Brew: Courts share blame for our police accountability problem by Todd Oppenheim: Chipping away at Fourth Amendment rights has unintended consequences If we are ever going to fix the mess that we’re in here in Baltimore and around the … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Inventory form doesn’t have to be complete to be valid
The inventory of defendant’s vehicle turned up criminal evidence, and the inventory essentially listed only that and not the rest except generally [e.g., a duffle bag]. The government argues that an inventory can become a criminal search by what it … Continue reading
Miscellany
Stopping in traffic justified defendant’s traffic stop. A gun was seen on the floor board in plain view after the officer chose to get the occupants out, his prerogative. Defendant’s statement “you guys got me with a gun, just charge … Continue reading
ProPublica: ‘No Field Test is Fail Safe’: Meet the Chemist Behind Houston’s Police Drug Kits
ProPublica: ‘No Field Test is Fail Safe’: Meet the Chemist Behind Houston’s Police Drug Kits by Ryan Gabrielson: Decades after L.J. Scott developed a test for cocaine, his invention played a role in hundreds of wrongful convictions in Houston.
Atlantic: End Needless Interactions With Police Officers During Traffic Stops
Atlantic: End Needless Interactions With Police Officers During Traffic Stops by Conor Friedersdorf: A broken taillight does not require armed agents of the state to approach a motorist’s window.
LA Daily News: Privacy isn’t being protected by Congress
LA Daily News: Privacy isn’t being protected by Congress:
Treatise 10% off through 7/6 midnight
Bookstore Not the 20-25% of before, but something.
OC Breeze: Celebrating the Bill of Rights: Fourth Amendment
OC Breeze: Celebrating the Bill of Rights: Fourth Amendment Celebrating the Bill of Rights, your defense and bulwark against the encroachment by government into your personal liberty. (The Bill of Rights, incidentally, was ratified December 15, 1791: 15 years, 4 … Continue reading
The Intercept: Secret Rules Make It Pretty Easy for the FBI to Spy on Journalists
The Intercept: Secret Rules Make It Pretty Easy for the FBI to Spy on Journalists by Cora Currier: SECRET FBI RULES allow agents to obtain journalists’ phone records with approval from two internal officials — far less oversight than under … Continue reading
Outside the Beltway: The Fourth Amendment Was Meant To Protect All Of Us, Not Just The “Innocent”
Outside the Beltway: The Fourth Amendment Was Meant To Protect All Of Us, Not Just The “Innocent” by Doug Mataconis: . . . Right off the bat, I must note with all due respect that the assertion that the protections … Continue reading
Cal.4th: sex offense probation condition that def submit to computer searches was reasonable
Defendant’s sex offense probation condition that he submit to computer searches was reasonably related to the offense. In re George F., 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 518 (4th Dist. June 28, 2016):