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Recent Posts
- E.D.Tenn.: Application for SW was considered in detention ruling
- TN: RS didn’t develop to continue stop; second stop based on first suppressed
- CA4: Traffic stop immediately became firearms investigation; suppressed
- CA10: Disagreement over spelling of street name didn’t make warrant fail particularity; GFE at least would apply
- VA: Statutory requirement to provide SW papers only applies to “places of abode”
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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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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)
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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) -
“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: Issue preclusion
CA2: A wrecked vehicle that has to be towed away is mobile for the automobile exception
Defendant wrecked his rental car and it was undriveable. It was still subject to the automobile exception because it would almost certainly be towed away, and that’s mobility. United States v. Jones, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 25563 (2d Cir. Oct. … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Officer’s construction of traffic law was “ardous” and unreasonable under Heien
The officer’s conclusion defendant violated a U-turn statute was unreasonable, and the motion to suppress is granted. “While mistakes of law based on arduous questions of statutory interpretation may justify an officer’s judgment, a poor study of the law cannot … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: A state court dispute over return of seized property held by feds heading toward contempt was removable to federal court
Defendant’s property was seized under a state search warrant. Defendant sought return in state court, but it had been transferred to federal officers. They refused return. Contempt was sought against the federal officers in state court and this was removable … Continue reading
Five on habeas
NYPD used a tracking order based on exigency followed by a written order to locate him. This was not shown to be an unconscionable breakdown in the process for Stone purposes. Also, his phone calls from Rikers were validly recorded. … Continue reading
D.Conn.: LEO accessing public social media accounts doesn’t implicate 4A
A prison security official’s accessing a potential visitor’s social media accounts to determine whether the visitor is some kind of security threat doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. Lawrence v. Zack, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161377 (D. Conn. Sep. 9, 2024). … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Losing suppression motion then pleading nolo was collateral estoppel in later civil case
Plaintiff raised a search issue in her underlying criminal case and lost. Later, she pled nolo and thus could not appeal. That’s final enough for collateral estoppel to apply in her § 1983 case. Harr v. Washington Area Humane Soc’y, … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Motion to suppress admitting no facts is denied as speculative
Defendant’s motion to suppress admitting no knowledge of the facts is denied as speculative. United States v. Lipman, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158940 (C.D. Cal. Sep. 4, 2024). “Here, the totality of the circumstances indicates that Agent Oliver had a … Continue reading
CO: Second entry after seeing a dead dog in def’s yard was without exigency and suppressed
The officer’s first approach to defendant’s door was a knock-and-talk, and he could see a dead dog which he checked on and confirmed. The trip to the front door was not to gather information en route. The warrantless entry coming … Continue reading
N.D.Fla.: Speeding stop doesn’t require state to prove officer’s speedometer was properly calibrated
Speeding 10 over the speed limit justified the stop, and the state didn’t have to prove the police car speedometer was properly calibrated. United States v. Powell, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153757 (N.D. Fla. Aug. 8, 2024), adopted, 2024 U.S. … Continue reading
CA6: No special REP in crypto in FinCEN 8300 reporting
There is no special reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment to bar the IRS/FinCEN Form 8300 reporting requirement. Carman v. Yellen, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 20033 (6th Cir. Aug. 9, 2024). Four of petitioner’s 2255 claims involved a … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Even summary denial of 4A claim in state court means Stone bar applies
Even a summary denial of a Fourth Amendment claim gets deference under Stone v. Powell. Burns v. Hainsworth, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138877 (M.D. Pa. Aug. 6, 2024). Petitioner’s successor habeas petition claim based on an alleged fabricated search warrant, … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Def had standing to challenge inventory but not the stop
“In sum, the Court finds that the failure to comply with each of these clearly-written standardized procedures contributes to a finding that the purported inventory search was improperly conducted.” Also, defendant didn’t have standing to challenge the stop of the … Continue reading
CA8: When it was immediately apparent that RS for the stop no longer existed, it should have ended
As the officer approached the car stopped for suspicion of shoplifting, it was immediately apparent that the occupants did not match the description of the shoplifters he was looking for. The stop should have ended then. Storrs v. Rozeboom, 2024 … Continue reading
VA: “‘you got nothing in the car, right?’ did not prolong the stop”
“The trial court made a factual finding that Investigator Natiello’s question lasted the same amount of time that it would have taken to simply hand the documents back to Jones. In addition, the question occurred before the investigator addressed Jones’s … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: No standing in ALPR info of car def didn’t drive
Defendant’s motion to suppress automated license plate reader (ALPR) data on the family car that he didn’t drive is denied for lack of standing. Also, the holder of the information was a third-party contractor. United States v. Butler, 2024 U.S. … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Exposure to Covid-19 in prison doesn’t state a 4A or 8A claim
Exposure to Covid-19 in prison didn’t state a Fourth or Eighth Amendment claim. Dingle v. Tommage, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124710 (E.D. Pa. July 16, 2024). Defendant was driving with a suspended license, and WVSP protocol dictated impoundment of the … Continue reading
M.D.La.: Strip searches in investigative stops is enjoined
The Baton Rouge PD’s strip search policy of detainees in an investigative stop on less than probable cause is enjoined. “[T]he Court finds that, for any search beyond a frisk or pat-down of a citizen stopped pursuant to an investigatory … Continue reading