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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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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)
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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: Click on wrong name on LPN reader screen same as erroneous warrant; exclusionary rule not applied because of mere negligence
An officer on patrol was running LPNs to see what he’d find. On defendant’s vehicle, a list a names came up, and the officer accidentally clicked on the wrong name resulting in defendant’s stop for an outstanding warrant that didn’t … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: The Court after Scalia: Scalia’s absence may help preserve the exclusionary rule
SCOTUSBlog: The Court after Scalia: Scalia’s absence may help preserve the exclusionary rule by Orin Kerr:
W.D.Tex.: In a Playpen case, planting software on a computer to cause it to transmit its address is “unquestionably a search”
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in IP addresses, but planting software on a computer to cause it to transmit its address is “unquestionably a search.” Recognizing the split of authority, Rule 41 was violated, but the court declines … Continue reading
NE follows Herring on no exclusion for slow updating of warrant database
Defendant was arrested based on an outdated warrant. State law prior to Herring likely would have provided relief, but the court is now bound by Herring and concludes that the exclusionary rule would not be applied. Yes, there was delay … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: Strieff applied to a possibly negligent look through a garage window when OnStar reported location of stolen car
A Cadillac was stolen from a car dealer, and it was tracked by OnStar in the car. Police came to do a knock-and-talk. Two cars were in the carport that weren’t the stolen car. They looked through a window of … Continue reading
MN: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to state tax proceedings
In this state tax case, the taxpayer claimed revenuers came to his liquor store and searched and seized by downloading his Quickbooks file to a flash drive. The state tax court holds that, even if the search was unreasonable, the … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Another NIT Playpen case before same judge; suppression not a proper remedy
“The exact issues raised by the instant motions to suppress were also raised by the defendant in United States v. Gerald Andrew Darby, 2:16cr36. another case pending before the undersigned. The Court denied both Motions to Suppress in Darby and … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Purging an invalid consent search from the affidavit for SW, the remainder shows no PC, so search suppressed
The testimony of the defendants on consent was consistent, detailed, and credible, but the testimony of the officers was vague. Thus, the consent is found invalid. Since the consent search made it into the affidavit for the search warrant, it … Continue reading
CA2: Exclusionary rule applies to civil forfeiture cases and govt’s civil discovery
In a forfeiture action against a NYC office building and several other buildings because one of the corporate owners was a front for the Iranian government, the Second Circuit held that “The Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule applies in civil forfeiture … Continue reading
Texas refuses to follow One 1958 Plymouth and holds that the exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to civil forfeiture cases
Texas refuses to follow One 1958 Plymouth and holds that the exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to civil forfeiture cases because there is no deterrence rationale and it’s a dated case; i.e., pre-Herring. State v. One (1) 2004 Lincoln Navigator, 2016 … Continue reading
CA6: The govt fails on its burden on independent source after an illegal search; deterrence rationale of exclusionary rule applies
The police conducted an illegal search then got a search warrant. The District Court suppressed, and the Sixth Circuit affirms finding the government did not satisfy the independent source rule. Moreover, it finds the deterrence rationale of the exclusionary rule … Continue reading
CA9: The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in § 1983 cases
The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in § 1983 cases, joining other circuits. Lingo v. City of Salem, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11708 (9th Cir. June 27, 2016) (amended Aug. 8, 2016):
HuffPo: Here’s A Good Reason For The Fourth Amendment To Apply To Immigration Courts
HuffPo: Here’s A Good Reason For The Fourth Amendment To Apply To Immigration Courts by Roque Planas: “They would spare a lot of people a lot of hurt if they would apply the law the way they’re supposed to,” says … Continue reading
Cal.2d: Even if Civil Code § 56.26 on medical record privacy had been violated, evidence not excludable in medical disciplinary proceeding
Even if Civil Code § 56.26 on medical record privacy had been violated, it would not exclude evidence in a medical board proceeding for violating billing standards. The subpoena is enforced as limited by time period. Fett v. Medical Bd. … Continue reading
IA: State SCt hasn’t departed from holding exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to revo proceedings so this court can’t
While the state search and seizure provision is subject to broader interpretation in Iowa, the state supreme court hasn’t deviated from the rule that the exclusionary rule does not apply in probation revocation proceedings, so this court is bound by … Continue reading
Cal. AG argues exclusionary rule shouldn’t apply in a death case penalty phase; held, not preserved below
Defendant’s car was not on the premises when a warrant was served there, so it was not subject to the search warrant. Defendant denied ownership of the car, but nobody inquired into whether he had a legitimate possessory interest in … Continue reading
WaPo: Future of the exclusionary rule? Preview of Utah v. Strieff
WaPo: Preview of Utah v. Strieff by Orin Kerr: SCOTUSblog has posted a preview I authored about Utah v. Strieff, a Fourth Amendment case on the scope of the exclusionary rule. Here’s the introduction:
CA11: After an illegal drug search, the exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to a § 1983 case
Plaintiffs were the target of a search warrant of their property which got suppressed in Georgia state court. Then they sued the cops, and qualified immunity was denied. The cops appealed, and the exclusionary was held inapplicable to the civil … Continue reading
OH10: “The Fourth Amendment exists to be enforced, which means providing a remedy.”
Defendant was a student in school, and his unattended bag was first cursorily searched to identify the owner. Then it was dumped out to search because he was suspected to be a gang member. The school resource officers were state … Continue reading