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- VA: Body cam video of valid arrest would not be suppressed
- NM: Trial court’s finding of consent is reversed because the court engaged in its own internet investigation beyond what the parties provided
- Reason: No Warrant, No Suspicion, No Problem: Flock and Border Cellphone Searches Excluded From 4th Amendment Rules
- Reason: Flock’s Gunfire Alerts Raise a New Fourth Amendment Question
- N.D.Ohio: Car in driveway was on curtilage and plain view prohibited
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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)
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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
WA: Second SW for records already produced was independent source; exclusionary rule won’t be applied
Verizon produced phone records under a court order, that later was determined to be invalid. A second order was issued for the same records. Verizon didn’t produce those records the second time because the first had been produced and they … Continue reading
GA: Allegedly illegally seized journals the state agreed not to use could be used as prior inconsistent statements when def testified
Defendant’s journals were allegedly illegally seized, and the state agreed not to use them. Defendant testified, and the state sought to put the journals into evidence for impeachment as a prior inconsistent statement. When the trial court allowed it, defendant … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: If you’re suing over a SW issued on false allegations, somebody has to put the SW papers in the MSJ pleadings; nobody did, so denied
This is an excessive force and illegal search claim where plaintiff claimed her husband was unreasonable killed in violation of the Fourth Amendment and state law. It also included a claim that the search warrant was obtained by judicial deception. … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Ordering occupants to stay in parked car officer pulled up behind was a seizure, but with RS
The officer pulled up behind defendant’s parked car. “[T]he Court concludes that the officers pulling up behind the parked vehicle constituted a mere encounter that did not ripen into a seizure for Fourth Amendment purposes until Sergeant Spangler ordered Defendant … Continue reading
Cal.1: Def’s false name was intended to avoid probation search condition; he’s estopped to argue exclusionary rule
“We hold that when a probationer gives a false name to a police officer, and a record check of that name fails to reveal that the probationer is in fact subject to a search condition, the probationer is estopped from … Continue reading
WSJ: When Illegally Obtained Evidence Can Be Used Against You
WSJ: When Illegally Obtained Evidence Can Be Used Against You by Joe Palazzolo: The digital age has accelerated carve-outs to a concept that most Americans take for granted: that evidence obtained in violation of the Constitution can’t be used against … Continue reading
DE: Exclusionary rule does not apply in probation revocation proceedings
Deciding an issue of first impression in the state, the court concludes that the exclusionary rule does not apply in probation revocation proceedings. Surveying law from other states, some recognize a bad faith exception for probation searches, but this case … Continue reading
KS: Waiting to run criminal history check unreasonably extended stop; drug dog used during that time
The stop was unreasonably extended by waiting several minutes to run a criminal history which was not for safety reasons. While the criminal history check was being run, a drug dog was run around the car. The exclusionary rule applies … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Exclusionary rule does not apply to revocation of supervised release
The exclusionary rule does not apply to revocation of supervised release. United States v. Phillips, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25603 (C.D. Ill. Feb. 16, 2018). Defendant’s 2255 Fourth Amendment IAC claim wasn’t timely: “Petitioner’s motion to vacate was not filed … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Messages through Airbnb’s website and app are governed by ECPA
A search warrant under ECPA to Airbnb was granted. Through its website and app, Airbnb allows messaging, and that makes it subject to ECPA. The government needs to determine which part of this can be unsealed to not compromise an … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: It’s not prosecutorial misconduct to present evidence allegedly unlawfully seized to a GJ
It’s not prosecutorial misconduct to present evidence allegedly unlawfully seized to a grand jury. That was settled in Calandra in 1974. United States v. Boston, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23751 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 14, 2018). “Accordingly, the court finds that … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: Argument preview: Should courts read statutory exclusionary rules broadly?
SCOTUSBlog: Argument preview: Should courts read statutory exclusionary rules broadly? by Richard Re:
E.D.N.Y.: The exclusionary doesn’t apply at sentencing
The exclusionary doesn’t apply at sentencing. United States v. Carrillo, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21731 (E.D. N.Y. Feb. 9, 2018):
MN: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil eviction
The landlord was changing all the locks in an apartment complex for uniformity and warned the tenants. They showed up at defendant’s apartment and knocked, but defendant didn’t answer. They tried unlocking the door but the master key didn’t work. … Continue reading
NY4: CSLI obtained by exigency mere third party information not subject to suppression
Police discovered defendant may have been involved in a quadruple homicide, and they submitted an exigent circumstances request for his CSLI for the four days around the homicide, and that put him there. His motion to suppress the CSLI was … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil case
The FTC moved for a preliminary injunction and appointment of a receiver which was granted on an emergency basis. Defendants now claim a Fourth Amendment violation from seizure of records. The claim is waived by not raising it sooner. Even … Continue reading
Volokh Conspiracy: The Fourth Amendment, the Exclusionary Rule, and Illegal Government Searches
Volokh Conspiracy: The Fourth Amendment, the Exclusionary Rule, and Illegal Government Searches by Damon Root Why illegally obtained evidence is generally inadmissible in court.
CA1: Exclusionary rule as to a statement won’t be applied to military disciplinary review board case
In a military disciplinary case, the court holds that a statement obtained without warnings could still be used before a disciplinary review board because the exclusionary rule is disfavored. Sasen v. Spencer, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 517 (1st Cir. Jan. … Continue reading
Reason: The Fourth Amendment, the Exclusionary Rule, and Illegal Government Searches
Reason: The Fourth Amendment, the Exclusionary Rule, and Illegal Government Searches by Damon Root:
PA: Even if HIPAA violated (it wasn’t), there’s no exclusionary remedy
Defendant’s medical records from the state he was extradited from were not unlawfully obtained under HIPAA or the Uniform Act for Obtaining Witnesses from Without State. A “subpoena” under the act includes subpoenas duces tecum. Moreover, even if HIPAA had … Continue reading