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- Reason: Border Agents Search Phones Without Warrants. This Case Asks the Supreme Court if That’s Constitutional
- The Economist: Why licence-plate readers are angering Americans
- N.D.Cal.: Typo in list of crimes being investigated in affidavit for SW could be overlooked
- MN: Risk of destruction of evidence was exigency for seizure of cell phone
- CA4: Use of a cell-site simulator to locate def was a search under the 4A
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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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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)
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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: Consent
D.Kan.: “Indicia of ownership” in a SW not overbroad
Inclusion of “indicia of ownership” of the place searched doesn’t show the warrant was not particular. United States v. Anderson, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73033 (D. Kan. Apr. 26, 2023). Defendant was stopped for a traffic violation, although there was … Continue reading →
D.Nev.: GFE does not save GPS tracking of additional driver of vehicle
Rubin, a regular driver of defendant’s pickup had standing to challenge a tracking warrant put on it. The issuing judge, however, appears only to have authorized the tracking of Morgan’s use. The court declines to apply the good faith exception. … Continue reading →
CA7: Renting a condo under an assumed name to avoid arrest doesn’t show no REP; landlord could not consent
Defendant rented a condo in Atlanta, deceiving the landlord by using an assumed name. The landlord consented to a search. The landlord had no power to consent to a search. People rent hotel rooms and apartments and even buy houses … Continue reading →
FL2: Def’s mental health seizure was unreasonable under state law; his search incident thus was unreasonable
Defendant’s mental health seizure didn’t comply with state law and was unreasonable. There was no face-to-face meeting to evaluate his condition required by law. His girlfriend had reported that he was sending suicidal text messages. K.M. v. State, 2023 Fla. … Continue reading →
Cal.2: Geofence warrant was a bit overbroad, but GFE still applies
A geofence warrant was sought in 2019 for Google which provided several subject phones in the vicinity of a murder. The court finds the warrant was not particular enough, but applies the good faith exception because geofence warrants were so … Continue reading →
Cal.4: Misdemeanants stated claim that DNA testing of them was a violation of state right of privacy
Plaintiffs stated a claim that the Orange County program for collection of DNA from misdemeanants violated their right to privacy. There may be instances were a misdemeanor may be a “serious crime” but in general, no. The trial court erred … Continue reading →
VA: Smell of MJ from one person in car is PC to that person only
When the smell of marijuana is localized to one person, that’s the extent of the probable cause. If from the car, it’s the car. King v. Commonwealth, 2023 Va. App. LEXIS 213 (Apr. 4, 2023) (unpublished). The video showed that … Continue reading →
E.D.Mich.: 13 day delay between trash pull and SW didn’t mean it was stale because case was actively investigated
A 13 day delay between a trash pull and a search warrant didn’t make the trash pull stale. There was an ongoing investigation throughout. United States v. Dobbs, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52882 (E.D. Mich. Mar. 28, 2023). District court’s … Continue reading →
OH3: Threat to get a SW didn’t coerce consent where there was PC for one
Defendant was alleged to have consented to a blood draw in a DUI case. When he hesitated, the officer said that he’d get a search warrant if defendant didn’t go through with it. There’s a difference between the officer saying … Continue reading →
CA6: Even if harassment was a basis to exclude a parole search, it wasn’t shown here
The exclusionary rule does not apply in supervised release revocation proceedings. Even if harassment by the officer was a basis to exclude, it wasn’t present here. United States v. Robinson, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 6756 (6th Cir. Mar. 21, 2023)* … Continue reading →
D.Kan.: Not responding to govt’s 4A alternative arguments de facto waiver
The government’s alterative theories to support the search were sufficient to avoid even deciding a good faith mistake of fact by the officers. Moreover, defendant never addressed the government’s alternative arguments in his briefing. United States v. Bell-Johnson, 2023 U.S. … Continue reading →
HI: Miranda warnings required whenever PC develops for arrest
“Miranda warnings are required by article I, section 10 of the Constitution of the State of Hawai’i when probable cause to arrest has developed. And in Hewitt’s case, contrary to the ICA’s conclusion, probable cause had developed before she was … Continue reading →
OH1: Defense counsel ineffective for not challenging state’s alleged consent after they announced “we’re going to be doing a search warrant here”
“The totality of the circumstances show that the signed consent-to-search form was not a product of consent, but an acquiescence to a claim of lawful authority.” “As Gaston complied with Davis’s instructions to sit in a chair on the porch, … Continue reading →
E.D.Tex.: Criminal trespass warning is not a 4A seizure
A criminal trespass warning is not a Fourth Amendment seizure. Shaikh v. Allen City Council, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43571 (E.D. Tex. Feb. 8, 2023),* adopted, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42228 (E.D. Tex. Mar. 13, 2023).* A DEA stop of … Continue reading →
E.D.Mich.: Stop at the Detroit Greyhound bus station lacked RS
Defendant was accosted as he was getting on a Greyhound bus in Detroit and blocked from getting on the bus and asked to produce his ID, ticket, and cell phone. He said he didn’t have his ID and gave the … Continue reading →
NJ: Entering def’s driveway to get better look at his house violated curtilage
Officer’s entry onto defendant’s driveway to get a better look at his house violated curtilage. State v. Ingram, 2023 N.J. Super. LEXIS 13 (Feb. 13, 2023). As for a suggestion of leniency for cooperation and consent, “TFO Vasquez’s statements fall … Continue reading →
N.D.Ill.: Obtaining mobile IP address not governed by Carpenter
In a child exploitation case, the government admitted that the state search warrant in another state wasn’t as detailed as they’d have done, but it still showed probable cause and was supported by the good faith exception. The mobile IP … Continue reading →
OH7: Computers are portable, and PC (nexus) moves with them
There was probable cause for child pornography in defendant’s computers in his temporary home he was occupying after a fire at his home. Computers are highly portable and can easily move from place to place. State v. Boyd, 2023-Ohio-271, 2023 … Continue reading →
VA: Statute passed one year after search that smell couldn’t be basis didn’t apply retroactively
A statute passed a year after this search that the odor of marijuana was no longer probable cause didn’t apply retroactively here. It says “in violation of this statute,” so that’s prospective only. Loeper v. Commonwealth, 2023 Va. App. LEXIS … Continue reading →
CA2: Arrested at gunpoint, handcuffed, and unMirandized, def still consented
Defendant had been arrested and handcuffed and officers had weapons drawn, and he hadn’t yet been Mirandized. Still, on the totality, he consented to the search. United States v. Collins, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 1257 (2d Cir. Jan. 19, 2023). … Continue reading →