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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com© 2003-19,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. 25k posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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LII State Appellate Courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
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)
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
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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“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"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)“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"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]“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock
2017 ABA Journal Web 100
Category Archives: Burden of pleading
W.D.Mo.: Boilerplate Franks claim fails on its face
“The defendant’s boilerplate claim that the ‘information used to obtain the search warrant from the Circuit Court judge was flawed with false allegation….’, … does not meet the Franks test for a hearing.” “While defendant did not explicitly argue that … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Pleading a constitutional violation without saying how preserves nothing for review
“Cruz next present a series of direct challenges, obviously hoping one will stick. He generally asserts that his ‘conviction and sentence are violative of the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution.’ (DE 32, at 7). … Continue reading
IA: The facts showing RS can also add up to PC
The facts supporting reasonable suspicion to stop defendant were enough for probable cause, and add to that the fact defendant slowed down and tossed a baggie of marijuana from the car. Mention in a search warrant of a Nevada drug … Continue reading
OH8: State had to argue plain view to trial court to argue it on appeal
The state’s plain view argument wasn’t pressed in the trial court, so it can’t be a basis for appeal. Even on the merits, the state loses because the stop was invalid, and the detention unreasonable all before the alleged plain … Continue reading
AR: Argument that SW was required not subpoena for text messages that came day after admission into evidence was waived
The defense argument that text messages were obtained by subpoena not search warrant was not preserved for review when the defense waited until the next day to object. Even if it had been preserved, the argument wasn’t fully developed, and … Continue reading
LA1: Changing suppression issue on appeal from lack of PC to arrest to an unreasonable search is waiver of the issue
Defendant’s motion changed from probable cause to arrest to whether there was an unreasonable search and seizure between the suppression hearing and the appeal. Thus, the issue for appeal wasn’t presented to the trial court, so it’s not preserved for … Continue reading
LA1: Not filing a motion and putting on proof on suppression issue gets it denied; but we’ll let you try it again
Making a constitutional argument about the implied consent law in opening statement and closing argument without a motion or briefing it is insufficient. Yet, remanded so he can do it again. [Not in most states; it would be denied and … Continue reading
GA: An issue briefed but not heard at the suppression hearing was fairly presented and preserved
A newer issue raised in a post-hearing brief on the motion to suppress was a part of the motion when it was decided by the trial court. A padlock on a door and a fan running inside does not support … Continue reading
CA10: You can’t tell the court it needs to apply the independent source case law a certain way and then complain on appeal that it did what you asked
This case started with hotel housekeeping coming in to clean a room and seeing obvious drug paraphernalia. The police were called, and they were shown. A search warrant was prepared showing probable cause to connect defendants to the room by … Continue reading
PA: Private university public safety conducted dorm searches for drugs after drug induced fight; it was a private search
Defendant was a student at Villanova University. There was a violent confrontation in a dorm between students who had admitted ingesting likely too much LSD. The University’s Public Safety Department and University officials conducted dorm searches. They had no arrest … Continue reading
CA4: Pre-Carpenter gathering of CSLI subject to GFE
Pre-Carpenter gathering of CSLI subject to good faith exception. United States v. Christian, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 25580 (4th Cir. Sep. 10, 2018). Defendant didn’t object to the R&R recommending denial of his search claim, and the R&R is adopted. … Continue reading
CA11: Hot pursuit of a misdemeanant into a dwelling is permitted by the 4A
Hot pursuit of a misdemeanant into a dwelling is permitted by the Fourth Amendment, and observation of drugs was valid. United States v. Concepcion, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 25001 (11th Cir. Sep. 4, 2018). Defendant’s claim that his confession was … Continue reading
