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- CA8: Def’s 20 prior arrests helped show voluntariness of consent
- TX1: No standing to challenge seizure of ketamine off co-def, but PC was lacking for his own arrest
- KS: 13 days pole camera surveillance violated no REP
- E.D.Va.: WaPo reporter’s SW was overbroad and 1A protected
- CAAF: GFE applies to cell phone’s geolocation data because of substantial basis for the search authorization
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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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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)
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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: Exclusionary rule
KY: Deputy in one county could go to another to investigate; no motion to suppress lies for statutory violation, if there even was one
A motion to suppress for a statutory violation doesn’t work in Kentucky absent a constitutional violation to found it on. Here, a deputy from one county crossed into another county to investigate. The statute defendant relies on deals with arrest, … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Officer wasn’t required to wait around for alternative means to tow vehicle before impoundment
“It is true that defendant made multiple requests to contact AAA to tow his truck, and he eventually suggested arranging for his father or friends, who were purportedly nearby, to move his truck to avoid impoundment. There was no telling … Continue reading
OH12: GFE applies to precedent decided day before search where nobody knew of the case
The day before defendant’s parole search, the state supreme court put the legality of his parole status in doubt. Nobody involved even knew about the case. The court agrees that the good faith exception applies to the search because there … Continue reading
CA9: When the 4A question isn’t settled, the alleged 4A violation can’t be egregious in immigration cases
“In immigration proceedings, the exclusionary rule applies to evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment only when the violation is egregious. … Petitioners bear the burden of making a prima facie showing of an egregious Fourth Amendment violation. … … Continue reading
D.Mont.: State trooper’s alleged violation of a tribal agreement with state wasn’t sufficient for exclusionary rule
A Montana state trooper’s alleged violations of a cross deputization agreement with a tribe wasn’t justification for exclusion of evidence from his stop of defendant. “The Court fails to make the connection between any constitutional violation whose remedy is suppression … Continue reading
CA4: Ptf’s claim the statute he was arrested under was unconstitutional is barred by DeFillippo
Plaintiff’s claim that his arrest and search was invalid because the statute under which he was stopped and arrested was unconstitutional is barred by Michigan v. DeFillippo. Quigley v. City of Huntington, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 760 (4th Cir. Jan. … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Even if a notebook was unlawfully seized, an IRS summons for it was valid
The IRS summons was upheld. “[E]ven if the notebooks were unlawfully seized, the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule does not render the summonses unenforceable. First, even if the exclusionary rule applied, evidence may not be excluded when it is obtained based … Continue reading
OH12: RS for stop after drugs found in 70 other traffic stops leaving suspected drug house
Suppose just for the sake of argument a law enforcement officer conducts 70 potentially legal stops of cars leaving a drug house but then finds drugs in the car. Assume further there was no reasonable suspicion for a detention or … Continue reading
TX: Flight from arrest on a warrant doesn’t permit litigating the validity of the warrant
There was an outstanding arrest warrant for defendant that justified the officer’s attempting to arrest him, and his flight justified his conviction for evading. The exclusionary rule doesn’t reach down to the actual validity of the warrant and the statute … Continue reading
CA9: Changing allegedly offending officer in Franks challenge on appeal was waiver
Defendant’s Franks challenge to one officer’s alleged misstatements were changed on appeal to involve another officer. This was waiver. United States v. Arnold, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 37199 (9th Cir. Nov. 25, 2020). In the college admissions scam case, “Here, … Continue reading
Tex.: Mere Miranda violation doesn’t automatically lead to suppression of physical evidence
A Miranda violation doesn’t automatically lead to suppression of physical evidence. The question is involuntariness and actual coercion, and then it could be. Wells v. State, 2020 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 944 (Nov. 18, 2020):
OH6: File stamp time error on SW wasn’t subject to exclusionary rule
The file stamp on a search warrant was before the judge signed it. This, however, is just a clerical error, and that doesn’t void an otherwise valid warrant. The exclusionary rule shouldn’t apply to such errors. “The testimonial evidence was … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Likelihood of suppression isn’t a factor at detention hearing
Defendant’s assertion at a detention hearing that there is some “likelihood” he may win suppression of evidence isn’t a factor in the decision to release. He’s still entitled to the presumption of innocence, but, essentially, exclusion isn’t ever likely enough … Continue reading
MA: SW for CSLI for too much time was severable
The search warrant for too many hours of CSLI was overbroad: “The collection of extended CSLI data raises significant constitutional concerns.” Three hours is all that could be shown was necessary. The overbroad part, however, could be severed, and suppression … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: When dwelling was found to be multi-unit, the search was limited to the proper one; ER should not be applied because the officer acted in complete good faith
Defendant failed to make a substantial preliminary showing for Franks purposes that the officer recklessly disregarded the fact there could be two residential units in the building he was seeking the search warrant for. He reviewed property records and Google … Continue reading
TX10: Texas’s art. 38.28 exclusionary rule instruction doesn’t apply to def’s own conduct
The ability to get an art. 38.23 exclusionary rule instruction for the jury depends on someone else’s wrongdoing, and not on the defendant’s own. It doesn’t apply to resisting arrest. Aguirre v. State, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 8524 (Tex. App. … Continue reading
OR: Def’s consent and statements are suppressed, but the search with a warrant is not
While defendant’s consent to search and statements made were invalid, the search was pursuant to a valid warrant, and the product of the search is not suppressed. State v. Joaquin, 307 Ore. App. 314, 2020 Ore. App. LEXIS 1243 (Oct. … Continue reading
AF: Franks violation led to exclusion
Defendant showed a Franks violation for a reckless statement for a search authorization of his room for marijuana. Balancing the interests, the exclusionary rule would be applied. United States v. Hernandez, 2020 CCA LEXIS 362 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. Oct. … Continue reading
KS: Legality of a stop may be pursued before DMV in a DL suspension
The legality of a stop may be pursued before DMV in a DL suspension. Jarvis v. Kan. Dep’t of Revenue, 2020 Kan. LEXIS 97 (Oct. 9, 2020). The trial court barred relitigating defendant’s Fourth Amendment claim on collateral estoppel grounds. … Continue reading
CA6: Officer executing a state arrest warrant doesn’t have to independently verify its validity
Defendant contended that the officer executing an invalid state arrest warrant had a duty to verify the validity of the warrant before executing it. He didn’t, and the officer acted in otherwise good faith. Therefore, the exclusionary rule would not … Continue reading