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- CA6: Knowing passcode to cell phone shows common authority over it to consent
- VI: Smell of MJ no longer PC in VI since legalization
- Reason: 3 Charlotte Cops Resign After Group Chat Reveals Competition To Arrest the Most Black People
- E.D.Mich.: Second SW for cell phone data retained by govt was valid
- S.D.W.Va.: “Shocking” nature of immigration raid on a Mexican restaurant at lunchtime didn’t warrant suppression
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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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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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. 
Category Archives: Uncategorized
John Erlichman, President Nixon’s Domestic Policy Advisor:
The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Subject matter of search particularized it by time
The search warrant was particular and not overbroad. The subject matter of the investigation sufficiently limited the search even though time wasn’t otherwise specified. United States v. Hugger, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123081 (S.D. Fla. July 12, 2022):
CA11: No IAC; hypothetical motion to suppress would fail
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective. The “hypothetical motion” to suppress would fail. Spriggs v. United States, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 17933 (11th Cir. June 29, 2022).* The rationale:
KY: REP in CSLI
There is a reasonable expectation of privacy in one’s CSLI. One can have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her movements on public roads. Commonwealth v. Reed, 2022 Ky. LEXIS 132 (June 16, 2022):
50th Anniversary of the Watergate break-in
50 years ago early this morning, the Watergate break-in occurred. And the rest is history. I was in the summer recess between being a 2L and 3L, probably already in summer classes. I studied for the bar exam to be … Continue reading
ATL: Federal Judge Just Doesn’t Feel Like Reading The Fifth Circuit’s Cases
And here, the defendant won on the search issue: ATL: Federal Judge Just Doesn’t Feel Like Reading The Fifth Circuit’s Cases by Kathryn Rubino (“Is this the most relatable a federal judge has ever been?”) discussing United States v. McKinney, … Continue reading
Bloomberg Tax: Congress’ Crypto Reporting Rules Draw Constitutional Challenge
Bloomberg Tax: Congress’ Crypto Reporting Rules Draw Constitutional Challenge (June 11, 2022) COURT: E.D. Ky.DOCKET: No. 5:22-cv-00149 (Bloomberg Law subscription)JUDGE: Karen K. Caldwell (Bloomberg Law subscription)
CNS: Can police secretly spy on your home without a warrant? The First Circuit doesn’t know
CNS: Can police secretly spy on your home without a warrant? The First Circuit doesn’t know by Thomas F. Harrison:
StarTribune: Ex-Minneapolis officer sentenced to three years in prison for stealing drugs during traffic stops
StarTribune: Ex-Minneapolis officer sentenced to three years in prison for stealing drugs during traffic stops by Randy Furst (“A former Minneapolis police officer who conducted questionable traffic stops in order to steal people’s drugs was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District … Continue reading
NYT: How a New York County Used the State’s ‘Red Flag’ Law to Seize 160 Guns
NYT: How a New York County Used the State’s ‘Red Flag’ Law to Seize 160 Guns by Andy Newman, Benjamin Weiser and Ashley Southall (“Suffolk County on Long Island aggressively uses the law to take guns from people in crisis … Continue reading
CA6: A minimal showing of nexus is enough for GFE even where PC is lacking
The affidavit failed to show probable cause. There was a minimal showing of nexus. That’s enough here for the good faith exception. United States v. Helton, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 13943 (6th Cir. May 24, 2022):
CA11: Health care fraud records SW permitted search of VCR tapes
After a year long investigation, officers obtained a search warrant for defendant’s medical clinic for health care fraud. They found videotapes in a cluttered backroom, and, based on the warrant, believed that they could contain evidence of the alleged fraud. … Continue reading
Rawstory: Georgia deputies infuriate school officials with ‘humiliating’ roadside search of Black lacrosse team’s luggage (updated)
Rawstory: Georgia deputies infuriate school officials with ‘humiliating’ roadside search of Black lacrosse team’s luggage by Travis Gettys:
Reason: Faulty Police Field Tests Said This Trucker Was Carrying 700 Gallons of Meth. It Was Diesel.
Reason: Faulty Police Field Tests Said This Trucker Was Carrying 700 Gallons of Meth. It Was Diesel. by Ed Ciaramella (“Juan Guzman spent nearly six weeks in jail based on unreliable field tests that have resulted in hundreds of other … Continue reading
Another crime leads to more surveillance
The Hill: Former federal prosecutor says Jan. 6 led to FBI increasing surveillance of American public by Brad Dress (“Journalist and former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori on Wednesday contended that the events of January 6 have led to the increased … Continue reading
Since Sen. Cotton is one of my senators …
and I’ve been a criminal defender since November 1979 (after my stint at the local prosecutor’s office from mid-1973): WaPo: Cruz and Cotton cut to the chase on GOP’s suspicion of defense lawyers by Aaron Blake (“With their criticisms of … Continue reading
Free defense CLE on technology warrants
NACDL: 2022 NACDL and the Samuelson Clinic’s Seminar: Unlocking the Black Box, free CLE on technology warrants in Chicago May 16-17.
NY3: Electronic logging device requirement on large trucks reasonable under 4A
A federal interstate truck requirement of an electronic logging device on the truck, incorporated under New York statute, for GPS, speed, and an event recorder is reasonable as an administrative search under the Fourth Amendment. It tracks the truck, not … Continue reading
MI SC review granted in drone pictures case
The Michigan Supreme Court has apparently granted review in the March 2021 drone pictures decision in Long Lake Twp. v. Maxon, 2021 Mich. App. LEXIS 1819 (Mar. 18, 2021) posted here. Long Lake Twp. v. Maxon, 2022 Mich. LEXIS 503 … Continue reading
Buzzfeed News: ICE Conducted Sweeping Surveillance Of Money Transfers Sent To And From The US, A Senator Says
Buzzfeed News: ICE Conducted Sweeping Surveillance Of Money Transfers Sent To And From The US, A Senator Says (“Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents obtained millions of people’s financial records as part of a surveillance program that fed the information to … Continue reading