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- ID: Drug dog’s touching nose on the car door was not a trespass
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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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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)
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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
N.D.W.Va.: A pipe in a car that could have legitimate uses still was incriminating enough for plain view
A pipe logically and usually used for smoking pot was seized in plain view because its incriminating nature was immediately apparent. The fact it could be used for legal substances doesn’t detract from that. United States v. Runner, 2020 U.S. … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: While one’s roof is on the curtilage, it lacks a REP
Defendant’s roof was not a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy despite the fact it was on the curtilage (decided in the context of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim). Davis v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 201562 … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Trash search entered constitutionally protected area, and there’s no trash search exception to curtilage
The officers entered a constitutionally protected area of defendant’s property for a trash seizure. The court also declines to adopt a “trash exception” to curtilage that trash expected to be picked up later is not protected. United States v. Gregory, … Continue reading
TX5: HIPAA doesn’t create REP in blood toxicology for medical treatment later used in DUI
HIPAA doesn’t create a reasonable expectation of privacy in one’s blood sample obtained for medical treatment. HIPAA recognizes criminal process to obtain it. Consuelo v. State, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 8460 (Tex. App. – Dallas Oct. 27, 2020). Any lack … Continue reading
SCOTUS: three dissent from denial of cert.: Jardines requires reversal
Bovat v. Vermont, 2020 U.S. LEXIS 5057 (Oct. 19, 2020) (Gorsuch dissenting from denial of certiorari with Sotomayor and Kagan):
VA: Knock-and-talk is still a valid exception for entry onto the curtilage
While entry into the curtilage is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant, Collins v. Virginia, 138 S. Ct. 1663, 1670 (2018), there is still implied license for police to enter for a knock-and-talk. Saal v. Commonwealth, 2020 Va. App. LEXIS 241 … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Late night view through def’s apartment window violated Jardines but there was still PC without it
Officers conducted a drug investigation into defendant’s apartment and ultimately went to his window in the night to look in and used a flashlight. That was a violation of the Fourth Amendment under Jardines, and the view has to be … Continue reading
GA: Tracking stolen cell phone by its find phone app resulted in unlawful entry onto curtilage
Defendant is accused of robbery including stealing a cell phone which was tracked to his house by the find phone app. When police arrived, they found the vehicle described by the victim, and they entered the curtilage without a warrant. … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Warrantless entry onto def’s curtilage was reasonable
The warrantless entry onto defendant’s curtilage was reasonable. United States v. Luna, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166819 (D. N.M. Sept. 10, 2020):
M.D.Pa.: Govt’s justification for protective sweep or exigency based entry were speculative so motion to suppress granted
The government contention a protective sweep or exigent circumstances justified the entry was speculative and lacked foundation. Motion to suppress granted. United States v. Lara-Mejia, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156946 (M.D. Pa. Aug. 28, 2020). The automobile exception doesn’t apply … Continue reading
OH6: Def’s neighbor was citizen informant in reporting seeing him looking at CP through an open window
Defendant’s neighbor could see him from his house masturbating to child pornography. He called the police and the police corroborated it but walked on the curtilage, too. The neighbor was shown as a confidential informant but was really a citizen … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Driveway isn’t always curtilage under Collins
Defendant’s driveway was not enough curtilage to make it unreasonable for the police to come on the driveway and look at his car. It wasn’t covered, and there was a road and open field right next to it. United States … Continue reading
CA11: Duplex driveway here wasn’t curtilage
The district court did not err in finding defendant’s driveway of a duplex was not curtilage under the Dunn factors in light of Collins. United States v. Stephen, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 24803 (11th Cir. Aug. 6, 2020):
OH3: Collins v. Virginia not retroactive on post-conviction relief
Defendant’s claim that Collins v. Virginia applied on post-conviction is denied. The search was two years before Collins was decided, and trial and appeal were over by then. It isn’t retroactive to final cases. State v. Parsons, 2020-Ohio-3917, 2020 Ohio … Continue reading
CA6: Camera in fake smoke detector outside def’s door in apt building hallway violated no REP
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in images captured by a camera warrantlessly placed in a fake smoke detector on the ceiling of his apartment building hallway right outside his door. United States v. Trice, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA10: Entry onto curtilage at 3:30 am was reasonable based on exigency of domestic battery call
Police approach to defendant’s house at 3:30 am was reasonable because it was based on a domestic violence report to check on his wife. “Finally, Jardines, King, and Manzanares do not apply here. The Officers did not search Mr. Martinez’s … Continue reading
CT: Police wait for def to attempt to retrieve sawed off shotgun in backyard was still exigency
The police had a reasonable belief defendant had used a sawed off shotgun to threaten someone and that it was likely in his backyard. They waited for him to reappear to attempt to recover the gun, and when he did, … Continue reading
AL: Dog sniff at apt door unreasonable under Jardines
“We consider whether the use of a drug-sniffing dog to sniff the door seams of the apartment was, under the reasoning of Jardines, an illegal search in violation of Earl’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. We … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: Renting a motel room doesn’t make their parking lot your curtilage
Just because defendant’s girlfriend rented a motel room and he was with her doesn’t make the motel parking lot their curtilage. “[N]ot even a hotel’s owner, to say nothing of its transitory guests, has a reasonable expectation of privacy in … Continue reading
CA4: State court suppressed SW for lack of nexus, and then feds indicted; GFE applies to the state warrant
Defendant was prosecuted in state court for a drug related murder, and the state court suppressed the search of his house finding lack of nexus. State v. Miller, 2016 S.C. Unpub. LEXIS 28 (Mar. 30, 2016). Defendant was then prosecuted … Continue reading