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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
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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
UT: Exclusionary rule does not apply to child welfare proceedings
The exclusionary rule does not apply to child welfare proceedings. The father was accused of possession of child pornography involving his own daughter and her friends, and the state sued to deny him access to them. Whether the search was … Continue reading
D.N.D.: Failure to record conversation with USMJ that address needed correction not ground to suppress
Officers discovered that the address in the search warrant was incorrect before the warrant issued, and the USMJ corrected it on the warrant. The failure to record that conversation while a Rule 41 violation and not a Fourth Amendment violation … Continue reading
CA2: Admission of removability obviates exclusionary rule claim
While egregious violations of the Fourth Amendment may be excludable in removal proceedings, a concession of removability that is an act of free will is an independent source for removal. Vanegas-Ramirez v. Holder, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 18351 (2d Cir. … Continue reading
CA9: Posse Comitatus Act applies to NCIS investigation of CP cases against civilians
Posse Comitatus Act applied to NCIS investigation into child pornography anywhere in the State of Washington against civilians. Thus, the district court erred in not suppressing the evidence. United States v. Dreyer, 13-30077 (9th Cir. September 12, 2014) (summary by … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: That police were rude during the search isn’t a ground to exclude
Alleged police misconduct in how the search was conducted because they were rude and cavalier in handling the evidence isn’t a ground to suppress. United States v. Samonek, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88269 (E.D. Mich. June 30, 2014):
KS: Failure to corroborate anonymous informants was a complete lack of PC for GFE
A police car was stolen and left in a ditch apparently with blood and hair left on it. Three anonymous calls linked defendant to the theft. He first agreed to come in and give samples and then didn’t show. A … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def doesn’t show factual basis for any exclusion for Rule 41 violation
Defendant’s motion to suppress for a Rule 41 violation is denied as untimely. Even on the merits, it shows no factual basis for exclusion. United States v. Williams, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75567 (D. Nev. February 14, 2014): Williams’ motion … Continue reading
RI: Arrest outside territorial jurisdiction not Fourth Amendment violation
Defendant was wanted for a robbery, and Pawtucket officers were looking for him, not in hot pursuit. They arrested him in Providence outside their jurisdiction, but the arrest is not suppressed under the Fourth Amendment. State v. Morris, 2014 R.I. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Failure to comply with notice provision for “sneak and peak” warrant did not require suppression
Dog sniff at door of a storage unit was used to get a “sneak and peak” warrant which was otherwise valid, and it did not violate Jardines which is limited to homes. A dog sniff like this does not violate … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: The Due Process Exclusionary Rule
The Due Process Exclusionary Rule, Richard M. Re, 127 Harv. L. Rev. 1885 (2014). Abstract: As the Supreme Court continues to cut back on and perhaps eliminate Fourth Amendment suppression, the exclusionary rule has entered a new period of crisis. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Payton violation doesn’t require suppression of confession
Payton violation doesn’t require suppression of confession. United States v. Medina, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65708 (S.D. N.Y. May 7, 2014): Finally, even if a Payton violation had occurred, it would not warrant suppression of Medina’s post-arrest statements. The Supreme … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Policing Facts
Policing Facts, Seth W. Stoughton, 88 Tul. L. Rev. 847 (2014). Abstract: The Supreme Court’s understanding of police practices plays a significant role in the development of the constitutional rules that regulate officer conduct. As it approaches the questions of … Continue reading
LA: Arrest and search and seizure outside of an officer’s territorial jurisdiction does not warrant exclusion
An arrest and search and seizure outside of an officer’s territorial jurisdiction does not warrant exclusion. State v. Gates, 2014 La. LEXIS 1139 (May 7, 2014): Even if we assume Officer Bell acted outside of his territorial jurisdiction in the … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Beyond the Judicial Fourth Amendment: The Prosecutor’s Role
Russell M. Gold, Beyond the Judicial Fourth Amendment: The Prosecutor’s Role, __ UC Davis L. Rev. __ (2014), Forthcoming. Abstract: Scholarly discussion of the Fourth Amendment focuses narrowly on judicial enforcement and the exclusionary rule. This Article takes a different … Continue reading
AZ: GPS on another’s vehicle targeting def as driver gave standing; no GFE where no prior state authority
Officers placed a GPS on another person’s vehicle knowing that defendant would be driving it, and he was the target. That gave him standing. The good faith exception doesn’t apply because there was no binding state precedent that said GPS … Continue reading