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- MD: While protective sweep information made it into SW affidavit, there was PC without it
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- D.N.M.: Shared driveway outside of fence and gate was not curtilage
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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 -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
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Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
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"On the Docket"–Medill
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General (many free):
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www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
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
Privacy Foundation
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
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. 
Category Archives: Uncategorized
D.Minn.: CP via IP address linked to defendant at time is nexus
An identified IP address as being the source of child pornography tied to defendant by an administrative subpoena showing that IP address only at his address during the time in question is nexus for a search warrant. United States v. … Continue reading
Bloomberg: How Police Unions Stopped Congress From ‘Militarization’ Reform
Bloomberg: How Police Unions Stopped Congress From ‘Militarization’ Reform: Why even Rand Paul isn’t talking as much about cops with army gear.
CIO: NSA privacy director defends agency’s surveillance
CIO: NSA privacy director defends agency’s surveillance by Grant Gross The U.S. National Security Agency’s surveillance programs are legal and under close scrutiny by other parts of the government, the agency’s internal privacy watchdog said Monday in an online Q&A. … Continue reading
On adoption of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001
Vocativ: Is Your Police Force Wearing Body Cameras?
Vocativ: Is Your Police Force Wearing Body Cameras? by EJ Fox and Abigail Tracy: Vocativ reached out to police departments in the 100 biggest U.S. cities to determine who’s using body cam technology. While the numbers are increasing, cops still … Continue reading
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, 132 S. Ct. 1510 (2012)
The Hill: Rand Paul to oppose NSA reform bill
The Hill: Rand Paul to oppose NSA reform bill by Julian Hattem: “‘Sen. Paul does not feel that the current NSA reforms go far enough,’ said an aide.”
The Hill: Lawmakers: Don’t fight legalized pot
The Hill: Lawmakers: Don’t fight legalized pot by Lydia Wheeler: A bipartisan group of House members urged Congress on Thursday to stay out of the way of building momentum toward marijuana legalization in states around the country.
American Spectator: Will Federalism Trump the Drug War?
American Spectator: Will Federalism Trump the Drug War? by Doug Bandow After last week’s voting it just might. Americas are angry with their politicians but nuanced in their political opinions. Voters in Alaska simultaneously ousted their Democratic Senator and legalized … Continue reading
Govt Tech: Eyeglass-Mounted Video Cameras Earn Police Respect
Government Technology: Eyeglass-Mounted Video Cameras Earn Police Respect by Dean Narciso, Columbus Dispatch: If not for Sunbury, Ohio, officers’ new cameras, one case might have brought charges of police abuse, Fourth Amendment violations and a lengthy investigation. The officers raced … Continue reading
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court added to sidebar
I only discovered that there was one today because Lexis sent two cases from it, one of which is posted immediately below. By the looks of it, all the links were added in April so it likely was created about … Continue reading
FISC judge disagrees with Klayman v. Obama
A FISC judge disagrees with Klayman v. Obama (posted here and argued in the D.C. Cir. this past week). Also, ISPs have statutory standing to bring an action in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court when they get a demand for … Continue reading
Lawfare: The FBI Impersonates the Media: Some of the Rules Governing Cyber-Subterfuge
Lawfare: The FBI Impersonates the Media: Some of the Rules Governing Cyber-Subterfuge by Andy Wang: The developing story of the FBI’s impersonation of journalists is, in a way, really the story of Timberline high school in Washington State. In June … Continue reading
NY Review of Books: Why Innocent People Plead Guilty
NY Review of Books: Why Innocent People Plead Guilty by Jed S. Rakoff (off topic but necessary, since venal candidates like to pick on opponents for handling any criminal case): The criminal justice system in the United States today bears … Continue reading
WaPo: Surprise! Controversial Patriot Act power now overwhelmingly used in drug investigations
WaPo: Surprise! Controversial Patriot Act power now overwhelmingly used in drug investigations by Radley Balko: One of the more controversial provisions of the Patriot Act was to broaden the “sneak-and-peek” power for federal law enforcement officials. The provision allows investigators … Continue reading
NYTimes: Crime Dips in New York as Misdemeanor Arrests Rise, Report Says
NYTimes: Crime Dips in New York as Misdemeanor Arrests Rise, Report Says by J. David Goodmanoct: Two decades ago, New Yorkers were more likely to be arrested in the middle of Manhattan for a misdemeanor than in any other neighborhood. … Continue reading
Politico: Magazine: The police are still out of control by Frank Serpico
Politico: Magazine: The police are still out of control by Frank Serpico: Forty-odd years on, my story probably seems like ancient history to most people, layered over with Hollywood legend. For me it’s not, since at the age of 78 … Continue reading
WaPo: Federal judge rules that the Fourth Amendment might be worth the parchment on which it’s written
WaPo: Federal judge rules that the Fourth Amendment might be worth the parchment on which it’s written by Radley Balko: So it seems that a federal judge has issued an injunction to prevent California authorities from conducting marijuana searches without … Continue reading
NV: Suspicion of DUI drugs is not an exigency under McNeely
Suspicion of DUI drugs is not an exigency under McNeely. Byars v. State, 130 Nev. Advance Opinion 85, 2014 Nev. LEXIS 111 (October 16, 2014): In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the warrantless, forced blood draw on … Continue reading
R.I.P. William H. Buckman, legend in the criminal law and law of racial profiling
Today was the funeral of a dear friend of mine, William H. Buckman of Moorestown, NJ, which I attended with about 20 members of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers among about 350. We came to honor a man and … Continue reading