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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the 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: Reasonable expectation of privacy
E.D.N.Y.: Visual surveillance of a car in a parking lot is not a search; no REP in the license plate
Visual surveillance of plaintiff’s car in a parking lot is not a search. “Mr. Porter alleges that Investigator Tucci committed an unreasonable search by conducting surveillance of his vehicle in a parking lot and by looking up his plate and … Continue reading
MA rejects 4A “standing” for a REP analysis
Massachusetts rejects Fourth Amendment “standing” in favor of a reasonable expectation of privacy under the state constitution. Defendant here may have a reasonable expectation of privacy even though something was actually in the possession of his codefendant. Commonwealth v. DeJesus, … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Helicopter flyover of curtilage at 500′ was reasonable
A helicopter flyover of the curtilage at 500′ was within FAA regulations and thus was reasonable. Defendant’s racing to the spot of the grow operation was exigency for fear he was on his way to destroy evidence. United States v. … Continue reading
D.Kan.: No REP in Twitter account it closed for violation of TOS for child porn
Twitter deactivated defendant’s account for violation of its terms of service and reported him to NCMEC. Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the files Twitter had preserved on him. “The Court finds under the circumstances of the case … Continue reading
IL: Drug sale in backyard nexus to SW for house
“Granted, the drug sale did not occur inside the residence. Rather, it occurred outside the residence, in the backyard. The question, then, is whether a controlled purchase that took place in the yard of a house in which the drug … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: No REP in pawnshop records uploaded to pawnshop detail
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in pawnshop records uploaded for the NYPD pawnshop detail. (Therefore, in the trial of this case, attacking the datamining of the NYPD for information is more prejudicial than relevant under F.R.E. 403.) Gem … Continue reading
MA: No REP in privacy settings on social media when def let undercover officer in
An officer sending defendant a SnapChat “friend” request which defendant accepted created no reasonable expectation of privacy in his SnapChat account. Thereafter, defendant posted a video of him with a firearm, and police looked for him and arrested him for … Continue reading
NY4: One positive trash search “might be a fluke, two indicate a trend”
Based on an anonymous source, police did two trash pulls at defendant’s address. Quoting CA6: “‘While one search turning up [narcotics] in the trash might be a fluke, two indicate a trend. Whether it be a particularly large quantity of … Continue reading
OH11: No RS for frisking a slumbering motorist
Police were called to a man slumped over his steering wheel maybe passed out. They roused him. Defendant’s patdown was not justified by reasonable suspicion. State v. Shoenberger, 2022-Ohio-253, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 232 (11th Jan. 31, 2022). Defendant’s roadside … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Police entry into a commercial gym with an unauthorized keycard violated the owner’s REP
Plaintiff operated a gym entered by the police for an administrative search during Covid when it should have been temporarily closed under a state executive order. They accessed it with a keycard from the prior owner who sold it years … Continue reading
D.Colo.: No REP in the “people’s house” on 1/6 because ptf wasn’t there
Plaintiff is an attorney pro se alleging, inter alia, a Fourth Amendment violation in Colorado against a member of the House of Representatives for the January 6th insurrection. He claims a Fourth Amendment in the “people’s house” when he doesn’t … Continue reading
Yahoo Finance: Tucked Inside Biden Infrastructure Bill: Unconstitutional Crypto Surveillance
Yahoo Finance: Tucked Inside Biden Infrastructure Bill: Unconstitutional Crypto Surveillance by Marta Belcher:
MI: No REP in overheard jail conversations between cells recorded through intercoms
Defendants were in jail together, in separate cells 20′ apart (#1 & #4) and talking about their case through the doors’ openings. Jailers could overhear them. “When jail personnel noticed that defendants were communicating with each other by speaking loudly … Continue reading
KS: Passenger had no standing in car he bought for girlfriend
The fact defendant paid for the car for his girlfriend but was a mere passenger at the time of the stop was not enough for standing under Byrd. He still had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it. State v. … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Where there is a SW for a vehicle, def’s automobile exception argument is moot
Defendant argues that the inventory was pretextual to search for evidence of crime, except that there already was probable cause at that point for an automobile exception search. On a later vehicle search, there also was a warrant. Failing to … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Facebook capturing CP was private search; its ToS show no REP
Facebook’s passing on suspected child pornography on its platform is a private search. Moreover, Facebook’s terms of service show a lack of a reasonable expectation of privacy for child porn. United States v. Montijo, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4577 (M.D.Fla. … Continue reading
Cal.2: Firing of two LAPD police officers recorded in patrol car ignoring a robbery in progress upheld
Not a search and seizure case, but interesting, and compare this to arrestees recorded talking to each other or themselves in the back of a police car where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy: The firing of two LAPD … Continue reading
GA: REP in apartment hallway outside door
Applying Dunn to defendant’s apartment hallway curtilage, defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy at his apartment door. There was a locked gate to enter the area that the police somehow bypassed to get in for a dog sniff. State … Continue reading
MT: When def asserts right to a SW on curtilage, deputy should have left if no exigency
When a sheriff’s deputy came on the curtilage to talk to defendant, defendant asserted his right to a warrant and refused to talk to him. While there were no No Trespassing signs, defendant’s assertion was enough to manifest his reasonable … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: No REP in police interview room
There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in a police interview room. The defendants were not misled, and their actions and hushed tones in the room showed they knew they could be overheard. United States v. Cook, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading