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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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General (many free):
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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: Reasonable expectation of privacy
S.D.N.Y.: FBI search 4 years earlier, where same records were disclosed in civil discovery, will not be suppressed
A motion to suppress an FBI search over four years into later civil litigation where the same records were produced in civil discovery is academic and denied. In re 650 Fifth Ave. & Related Props., 970 F. Supp. 2d 204 … Continue reading
Tennessee adopts the “second look” booking inventory search rule
Tennessee adopts the “second look” booking inventory search rule. Defendant had been arrested for DUI, but he was a suspect in a rape and robbery. Officers looked again at the contents of his pants and found jewelry from the victim, … Continue reading
Network World: No reasonable expectation of privacy when third parties cross the creepy line?
Network World: No reasonable expectation of privacy when third parties cross the creepy line? by Ms. Smith: A former DHS official suggests SCOTUS has no business expanding Fourth Amendment protections to protect our privacy from third parties who cross the … Continue reading
OR: Search of home requires more than just PC; there must be a warrant or warrant exception
Defendant argued the search of her bedroom was without consent, therefore invalid. The trial court found probable cause and sustained the search. Reversed: Without an exception to the warrant requirement, the search was invalid, and the state argues none. State … Continue reading
D.Ore.: No standing in rental car a month overdue and reported stolen
Defendant had a rental car one month past its three day rental period, and it had been reported stolen. He had no standing or reasonable expectation of privacy in the car. United States v. Brown, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59747 … Continue reading
ND: Furtive movements when pulled over justified officers’ guns drawn and console search
Defendant was stopped because the LPN didn’t match the car. His furtive movements at the time of the stop justified the officers drawing down on him, handcuffing, and searching the console. State v. Scheett, 2014 ND 91, 2014 N.D. LEXIS … Continue reading
Austin American-Statesman: Lawsuit: Travis County Jail inmates had calls to attorneys recorded, shared
Austin American-Statesman: Lawsuit: Travis County Jail inmates had calls to attorneys recorded, shared by Nicole Chavez: The Travis County sheriff’s office and other law enforcement agencies are being accused of violating attorney-client privilege after a private firm in Dallas installed … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: Argument analysis: Limiting a search? Sure, but how?
SCOTUSBlog: Argument analysis: Limiting a search? Sure, but how? by Lyle Denniston: Trying to imagine all of the things that an individual might keep stored on a cellphone, and trying to decide how much privacy – if any – each … Continue reading
Reason.com: Man Rousted at Gunpoint After License Plate Scanner Misreads Plate
Reason.com: Man Rousted at Gunpoint After License Plate Scanner Misreads Plate by J.D. Tuccille: One of the downsides of all of the new gee-whiz identification technology law enforcement is adopting (usually with hefty federal subsidies) is that it never works … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Custodial arrest for littering supported search incident
Police responded to a 911 call and saw defendant, who appeared to be wearing body armor, throw a food wrapper on the ground. They arrested him for littering and took him in. The search incident of the body armor was … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh: Courts grapple with the mosaic theory of the Fourth Amendment
WaPo: Volokh: Courts grapple with the mosaic theory of the Fourth Amendment by Orin Kerr: This post updates readers on the current status of the mosaic theory of the Fourth Amendment. As regular readers know, that’s the novel approach to … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: District of Columbia Jones and the Mosaic Theory – In Search of a Public Right of Privacy: The Equilibrium Effect of the Mosaic Theory
District of Columbia Jones and the Mosaic Theory — In Search of a Public Right of Privacy: The Equilibrium Effect of the Mosaic Theory, Jace C. Gatewood, 92 Neb. L. Rev. 504 (2014). Abstract: The “mosaic theory” refers to a … Continue reading
SCOTUSblog: Argument preview: Police and cellphone privacy
SCOTUSblog: Argument preview: Police and cellphone privacy by Lyle Denniston: Next Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court will hold back-to-back, one-hour hearings on cases testing the authority of police to search the contents of cellphones they take from people they have … Continue reading
C-Span: Privacy Laws Related to the Use of Drones
C-Span: Privacy Laws Related to the Use of Drones Jeramie Scott (EPIC) spoke by phone about the privacy issues related to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) by law enforcement agencies.
The Atlantic: Eyes Over Compton: How Police Spied on a Whole City
The Atlantic: Eyes Over Compton: How Police Spied on a Whole City by Conor Friedersdorf: A sergeant in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department compared the experiment to Big Brother, even though he went ahead with it willingly. Is your city … Continue reading
Cal.1: Dr had no REP in patient records from a database search of prescription history
Under California law a doctor has standing in the medical records of patients [same with lawyers and client files]. The Medical Board did a controlled substances prescription database search to see what the doctor had been prescribing to see if … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Government’s motion to compel fingerprinting of person in custody on indictment granted
The government’s motion to compel fingerprinting of a person in lawful custody on an indictment is granted. There is no Fifth or Fourth Amendment right involved. United States v. Adams, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51735 (E.D. Mich. April 15, 2014):
New Law Review Article: “Personal Curtilage”: Fourth Amendment Security In Public
Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Personal Curtilage: Fourth Amendment Security in Public, 55 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1283 (2014). Abstract:
D.Or.: Reasonable expectation of privacy in prescription records, and the third party doctrine does not apply to them
b2evALnk.b2WPAutP Continue reading