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- Yahoo Tech: Can you be prosecuted for wiping your phone at the border?
- LATimes: Immigration agents used racial slurs referring to Latinos in text messages, video obtained by ACLU
- Cal.4: No error not unsealing CI’s identity in SW application
- D.P.R.: A shed on the curtilage was within scope of SW
- NY4: Payton does not apply to an arrest in a common area of an apartment building
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the 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: Immigration arrests
San Diego Union-Tribune: An end to immigration checks on Greyhound buses reaffirms Fourth Amendment argument from civil rights groups
San Diego Union-Tribune: An end to immigration checks on Greyhound buses reaffirms Fourth Amendment argument from civil rights groups by Lisa Deaderick (“In Greyhound’s recent decision to no longer allow Border Patrol immigration checks on its buses, civil rights groups say … Continue reading
WaPo: ICE runs facial-recognition searches on millions of Md. drivers, alarming immigration and privacy activists
WaPo: ICE runs facial-recognition searches on millions of Md. drivers, alarming immigration and privacy activists by Drew Harwell and Erin Cox (“Maryland defied federal guidelines in 2013 when it created driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. But in recent years, Immigration … Continue reading
CA11: Further detaining plaintiff at jail after she made bond on a hunch she was not legally in the U.S. denied QI
“The evidence, interpreted in the light most favorable to Alcocer, is sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that Mills violated Alcocer’s Fourth Amendment rights by continuing to detain her without new probable cause after her attempted posting of bond … Continue reading
NYTimes: Greyhound to Stop Allowing Border Patrol Agents on Its Buses Without Warrants
NYTimes: Greyhound to Stop Allowing Border Patrol Agents on Its Buses Without Warrants by Johnny Diaz (“The bus company announced the policy change only days after a leaked memo revealed that agents could not board without consent.”)
NYLJ: ICE Confronts the Privilege Against Courthouse Civil Arrests
NYLJ.com: Analysis: ICE Confronts the Privilege Against Courthouse Civil Arrests by Edward M. Spiro & Christopher B. Harwood (“In New York state over the last two years, ICE has increased its courthouse civil arrests of undocumented and other aliens by … Continue reading
Slate: Greyhound Won’t Commit to Protecting Its Passengers From Racial Profiling Despite CBP Guidance
Slate: Greyhound Won’t Commit to Protecting Its Passengers From Racial Profiling Despite CBP Guidance by Jeremy Stahl:
Minn. L. Rev.: The Fourth Amendment Implications of “U.S. Imitation Judges”
104 Minn. L. Rev. 1275: The Fourth Amendment Implications of “U.S. Imitation Judges” by Mary Holper:
CNS: ACLU Sues ICE for Warrants in Dallas-Area Workplace Raid
CNS: ACLU Sues ICE for Warrants in Dallas-Area Workplace Raid by David Lee: DALLAS (CN) – The American Civil Liberties Union sued federal immigration officials Wednesday, demanding the search warrants for a raid last year at a Dallas-area electronics repair … Continue reading
CA8: Officer’s training and experience not needed in SW affidavit if it shows PC
The facts in the affidavit for images on defendant’s cell phone were enough for probable cause. The officer did not have to detail his training and experience in sex assault cases, too. The alleged Franks violation, even if it was, … Continue reading
techdirt: DHS Move Ahead With Plan To Harvest DNA Samples From Nearly Everyone Detained By ICE And CBP Privacy
techdirt: DHS Move Ahead With Plan To Harvest DNA Samples From Nearly Everyone Detained By ICE And CBPPrivacy by Tim Cushing:
CA9: Immigration arrest valid on “reason to believe” this person was an alien illegally in the U.S.
BIA petitioner’s rights were not violated because she can’t show her arrest was an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment. “The fact that agents detained and arrested Echeverria without first establishing her identity and alienage is of no moment. All … Continue reading
NY4: Anonymous call confirmed by observation was RS
“[T]he police had reasonable suspicion justifying the forcible detention of defendant ‘based on the contents of a 911 call from an anonymous individual and the confirmatory observations of the police’ …. [¶] Furthermore, even assuming, arguendo, that defendant established that … Continue reading
MD: Def’s burden to prove custody, but he didn’t testify
“It was [defendant]’s burden to prove custody. … Payne opted to remain silent at the suppression hearing; therefore, we have been provided no contrast to the evidence given by Detective Patterson, upon which the court reasonably relied.” The trial court’s … Continue reading
Lawfare: Trump Administration Proposes Rule to Collect DNA From Detained Noncitizens
Lawfare: Trump Administration Proposes Rule to Collect DNA From Detained Noncitizens by Krista Oehlke (“The Department of Justice on Oct. 15 proposed a rule that would enable the DNA collection of noncitizens in immigration detention and the transfer of that … Continue reading
The Appeal: In a Private Facebook Group, California Police Brag about Breaking State Law to Help ICE
The Appeal: In a Private Facebook Group, California Police Brag about Breaking State Law to Help ICE by Darwin BondGraham (“Some officers have recently boasted about breaking state law and collaborating with ICE, according to messages posted in a private … Continue reading
CA2: BIA erred in not suppressing; a prima facie case of an egregious violation of the 4A was shown because it was apparently race based stop and there was virtually no PC
BIA erred by denying petitioner’s motion to suppress evidence of his alleged alienage. He made out a prima facie case of an egregious violation of his constitutional rights where the evidence tended to show a racial animus in the planning … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Arrest warrants don’t grow stale like SWs
The officer had probable cause to arrest defendant and conduct a search incident to arrest. Thus, the question of probation search is moot. The passage of time (here a little over two months) between knowledge of the arrest warrant and … Continue reading
Courthouse News Service: Judge Blocks ICE From Using Flawed Databases to Detain Immigrants
Courthouse News Service: Judge Blocks ICE From Using Flawed Databases to Detain Immigrants by Jon Parton:
CA2: US citizen jailed without PC as an undocumented immigrant states a FTCA claim
A federal tort claims act case was properly stated for an American citizen plaintiff’s four day detention in an immigration facility as lacking probable cause. Hernandez v. United States, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 28081 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2019). Defendant … Continue reading
NC: Failure to raise legality of arrest in trial court precluded appellate review
Defendant was an anti-abortion protestor with a sound system, and he was detained for a noise violation after officers with a 3M sound meter found him over the sound ordinance limit. He was to be arrested for that and he … Continue reading