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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
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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
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General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
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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)
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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
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 -
"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) -
“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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Computer and cloud searches
The Intercept: Edward Snowden’s New App Uses Your Smartphone to Physically Guard Your Laptop
The Intercept: Edward Snowden’s New App Uses Your Smartphone to Physically Guard Your Laptop Haven uses the smartphone’s many sensors – microphone, motion detector, light detector, and cameras – to monitor the room for changes, and it logs everything it … Continue reading
NYTimes: Privacy Complaints Mount Over Phone Searches at U.S. Border Since 2011
NYTimes: Privacy Complaints Mount Over Phone Searches at U.S. Border Since 2011 by Charlie Savage and Ron Nixon: Grievances over lost privacy run through a trove of roughly 250 complaints by people whose laptops and phones were searched without a … Continue reading
WY recognizes invasion of privacy cause of action from Restatement of Torts for rental company’s tracking software on rented computers
Aspen Way leases computers in Wyoming. “The complaints each generally alleged that Aspen Way installed software on Plaintiffs’ leased computers, without Plaintiffs’ knowledge, that enabled Aspen Way to track the leased computers’ locations, remotely activate the computers’ webcams, and capture … Continue reading
D.Ore.: Court denies stay of execution of computer SW because of lack of proof of irreparable harm
A USMJ issued a search warrant for defendant’s computer and hard drive that had not yet been searched. The USDJ declines to issue a stay to stop the ongoing search because the defense cannot show a likelihood of irreparable harm … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Facebook SW was valid when issued, but later case law said it would have been overbroad; valid by GFE
The Facebook warrant here was overbroad, but it was consistent with case law at the time. Later case law said that it would have been overbroad. Nevertheless, reliance on case law at the time the search warrant was issued is … Continue reading
MO: Where 2 SWs authorize search, both have to be suppressed for def to prevail; challenging only one is moot
There were two search warrants authorizing the search of defendant’s computers for child pornography. He challenged the second but not the first, and that makes his argument moot. State v. Cato, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 1298 (Dec. 12, 2017). A … Continue reading
Politico: Court filing highlights breadth of Mueller’s investigation into Manafort
Politico: Court filing highlights breadth of Mueller’s investigation into Manafort by Josh Gerstein:
A.F.Ct.Crim.App.: Giving out Facebook ID and password over recorded jail call to get password changed was waiver of REP in Facebook page
Defendant told someone in a recorded jail call that he knew was being recorded his Facebook ID and password so it could be changed. That was a waiver of his reasonable expectation of privacy in the information on his Facebook … Continue reading
CA11: Supervised release warrantless computer search condition isn’t limited to sex offenses
Defendant was convicted of aggravated child abuse, but not a sex offense, in state court, and that resulted in revocation of supervised release. The new sentence was 24 months confinement and 36 months supervised release. A warrantless computer search condition … Continue reading
WaPo: Man investigated after Best Buy technicians tipped off FBI has child pornography case dismissed
WaPo: Man investigated after Best Buy technicians tipped off FBI has child pornography case dismissed by Tom Jackman:
The Hill: Court limits DOJ warrant for Facebook data on Trump protesters
The Hill: Court limits DOJ warrant for Facebook data on Trump protesters by Morgan Chalfant:
Just Security: Top Experts: Can Facebook Legally Disclose Russian Ads–What does the Stored Communications Act say?
Just Security: Top Experts: Can Facebook Legally Disclose Russian Ads–What does the Stored Communications Act say? by Ryan Goodman:
MA: Nexus shown between murder and def’s computer having relevant evidence on it
The state showed nexus to defendant’s laptop and the victim’s murder. Defendant had forged documents on a computer before, and it was reasonable to conclude that similar events happened here by defendant’s hand. Defendant was well experienced in using computers … Continue reading
NACDL: Protecting Your Digital Devices at the Border, A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Primer
NACDL: Protecting Your Digital Devices at the Border, A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Primer (October 2017): Courts have long made it clear that agents can search the bags of people entering the country. For the past decade or so, U.S. Customs … Continue reading
Law.com: The Old Particularity in New Digital Raids
Law.com: The Old Particularity in New Digital Raids by Peter A. Crusco In his Cyber Crime column, Peter A. Crusco addresses the particularity requirement as it relates to digital evidence seized by search warrant, reviews some of the recent cases, … Continue reading
Westlaw Insider: The Fourth Amendment in a Digital Age
Westlaw Insider: The Fourth Amendment in a Digital Age:
LawNewz: DOJ Seeking Info on 6000 People Who ‘Liked’ Anti-Trump Facebook Page
LawNewz: DOJ Seeking Info on 6000 People Who ‘Liked’ Anti-Trump Facebook Page by Alberto Luperon Fortune: The Trump Administration Is Targeting Anti-Trump Facebook Users by David Meyer Engadget: ACLU challenges DOJ request for info on 6,000 anti-Trump Facebook users by … Continue reading
CA11: In search of computer for evidence of hacking, lack of time frame or search protocol doesn’t violate 4A
The search warrant for defendant’s computer was for evidence of “hacking” but produced child pornography. The lack of a time frame and search protocol for the search doesn’t make it violate the Fourth Amendment. “Considering the specific circumstances and complexities … Continue reading
Jurist: A Digital World: Why Law Enforcement Needs to Obey the Fourth Amendment
Jurist: A Digital World: Why Law Enforcement Needs to Obey the Fourth Amendment by Victoria Drake
Politico: Judge inches toward demand for data on Trump inaugural protest website
Politico: Judge inches toward demand for data on Trump inaugural protest website by Josh Gerstein: A judge is pressing forward with plans to allow enforcement of a search warrant against a website used to organize protests against President Donald Trump’s … Continue reading