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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)
--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: Curtilage
NC: Where def’s front door obviously wasn’t used, it was reasonable to go to nearest side door for knock-and-talk; MJ in plain view
Officers came to defendant’s house to do a knock-and-talk based on reports he was growing marijuana. The front door was covered in plastic and appeared to have furniture blocking it, so they went to the nearest door, on the side … Continue reading
D.V.I.: “Casing” the premises from the street as a prelude to a knock-and-talk does not violate the curtilage
“Casing” the premises from the street as a prelude to a knock-and-talk does not violate the curtilage. United States v. Lubrin, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9682 (D.V.I. January 28, 2015). The officer had reasonable suspicion to continue the detention on … Continue reading
IL: Officers investigating noise complaint at house could go to back door when nobody answered front door
Officers investigating a noise complaint could go to the back door of the subject residence when nobody answered the front door and there was apparently somebody home. People v. Cannon, 2015 IL App (3d) 130672, 2015 Ill. App. LEXIS 9 … Continue reading
NC: Parking lot of a multi-unit apartment building is not curtilage
The parking lot of a multi-unit apartment building is not curtilage. Police seizure and testing of a discarded cigarette butt tossed there did not require a warrant. State v. Williford, 2015 N.C. App. LEXIS 1 (January 6, 2015). Defendant was … Continue reading
TN: Officers could go to door of rear apartment for knock-and-talk
Defendant lived in a rear apartment on the property, so the police did not violate curtilage or a no trespassing sign by going to the rear door since it was his entry. After that, his consent to enter and search … Continue reading
WI: Apartment building’s parking garage was not part of the apartment’s curtilage
An apartment building’s parking garage was not part of the apartment’s curtilage. “Dumstrey appeals from a judgment of conviction for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OWI), second offense. Dumstrey argues that the off-duty officer who pursued him in traffic … Continue reading
EFF: Federal Court Agrees with EFF, Throws Out Six Weeks of Warrantless Video Surveillance
EFF: Federal Court Agrees with EFF, Throws Out Six Weeks of Warrantless Video Surveillance by Hannui Fokhoury: The public got an early holiday gift today when a federal court agreed with us that six weeks of continually video recording the … Continue reading
NE: No reasonable expectation of privacy in unfenced and unoccupied urban lot
Admitting that it has been less than clear in the past, the Nebraska Supreme Court holds that more than just probable cause is required to enter real property. Here, the entry was based on open fields to observe all the … Continue reading
TX13 finds an “apartment curtilage” in dog sniff at door of inside apartment
Because defendant’s apartment was only one of two on the floor, and he kept plants outside the door, the court finds a curtilage in his apartment such that a dog sniff at the door invaded the curtilage. This situation is … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: SW for dumpsters here didn’t violate “business curtilage” nor a REP
A search warrant was issued for dumpsters on a “large commercial property” for evidence of asbestos dumping in violation of EPA law. Accepting that there might be a “business curtilage,” the court finds this search warrant didn’t violate any reasonable … Continue reading
IN: “No Trespassing” sign and cable across driveway defined curtilage under state constitution; entry required warrant
“No Trespassing” signs used to be not determinative of curtilage. It’s apparent they are becoming so. Here, the defendant had a cable across the driveway, a “No Trespassing” sign, and a surveillance camera. The police were not in hot pursuit … Continue reading
NC: When nobody answers door and apparently nobody home, going to back door because of barking dog violated curtilage
When officers doing a knock-and-talk get no answer at the front door and there’s no car in the driveway and no signs anybody’s home, they can’t go to the back door to see if the barking dog they heard belonged … Continue reading
CA2: Entry into curtilage and shooting family dog in front of child not based on exigency
Officers entered the curtilage without a warrant or exigent circumstances and shot plaintiff’s dog in front of his 12 year old daughter. The verdict for the defendant officers is reversed and remanded for trial because they didn’t show reasons for … Continue reading
OH9: Flyover gave PC for marijuana grow in backyard, but police needed a warrant to enter
After a marijuana eradication flyover, officers entered defendant’s fenced back yard without a warrant to seize plants. The warrantless entry violated the Fourth Amendment. They had probable cause, but the state was seeking to have defendant disprove exigency when it … Continue reading
OR: The fact that the only way into defendant’s apartment was a backdoor was not implied consent for the police to enter the curtilage
Defendant’s apartment was only accessible by a backdoor on the curtilage. The fact that the only way into defendant’s apartment was a backdoor was not implied consent for the police to enter the curtilage, and it was apparently his curtilage, … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Following defendant into his driveway did not violate curtilage
Following defendant into his driveway did not violate curtilage. The officer walked around the truck to see if it matched one in a store surveillance video. United States v. Rojas, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140708 (N.D. Iowa October 3, 2014), … Continue reading
WI: Police came to a trailer park the subject of an anonymous complaint and looked in windows; it was an illegal trespass and search
Narcs received an anonymous report of drug activity at 4:40 am in a trailer park, so they went and looked around. Going up to a window and peering in with a flashlight was an invalid trespass and search. This wasn’t … Continue reading