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- D.Haw.: Ex parte communications about SW issuance doesn’t require later recusal
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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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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: Consent
VA: Claim of exigency belied by 45 minute wait and then seeking telephonic SW
The officers’ claim they didn’t have time to get a search warrant before entering because the magistrate was 30 minutes away was belied by the fact that they waited 45 minutes and then got a telephone authorization to search after … Continue reading →
M.D.Pa.: Google Translate is not constitutionally sufficient to attempt to get consent from a non-English speaking motorist
Google Translate is not constitutionally sufficient to attempt to get consent from a non-English speaking motorist. Some of the translations here were non-sensical. Alternatively, however, the search was valid under the automobile exception. United States v. Ramirez-Mendoza, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading →
CA8: Running a false affidavit through the prosecutor doesn’t create QI
Running an allegedly false affidavit through the prosecutor doesn’t create qualified immunity for the affidavit. Wheeler v. City of Searcy, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 29364 (8th Cir. Sept. 29, 2021). The New Jersey Division of Child Protection & Permanency (“DCPP”) … Continue reading →
TX5: Consent to a blood draw is also consent to its testing
Consent to a blood draw is also consent to its testing. Schulz v. State, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 7748 (Tex. App. – Dallas Sept. 21, 2021). “Citizens have long-cherished constitutional rights which deserve our protection. Law enforcement officers have difficult … Continue reading →
NE: Continuing stop past end of mission of stop was without consent
Once the mission of the traffic stop should have ended, the officer continued questioning and sought consent. The consent was not voluntary. State v. Thompson, 30 Neb. App. 135, 2021 Neb. App. LEXIS 223 (Sept. 14, 2021). Touching the hood … Continue reading →
NE: Consent during unreasonable extension of stop not voluntary
The traffic stop was reasonable, but it was unreasonably extended. Defendant’s consent during that period was not attenuated. State v. Thompson, 30 Neb.App. 135 (Sept. 14, 2021):
OH2: Old arrest for weapons charge made patdown after jaywalking stop in high crime area reasonable
Jaywalking stop in a high crime drug area led to officers finding about years’ old prior arrest for weapons. It was not unreasonable to pat defendant down. There admittedly was no other suggestion of criminality. State v. Allen, 2021-Ohio-3047 (2d … Continue reading →
MO: SW for cell phone at def’s house wasn’t properly executed on his phone at police station
This cell phone search warrant was for a black Samsung in a black case at defendant’s address. It was executed at the police department, not defendant’s house. The trial court properly suppressed and properly held the good faith exception did … Continue reading →
ID: Where state constitution requires arrest warrant for completed misdemeanors, it was sufficient there was a reasonable belief officer was arresting for a completed felony
While an officer cannot arrest for a completed misdemeanor without an arrest warrant under the state constitution, the officer reasonably believed here that it could be a felony. SCOTUS’s recent opinion on the community caretaking function in Caniglia v. Strom … Continue reading →
D.N.J.: Review in a motion to suppress is not de novo
The affidavit for search warrant was based on probable cause. Review in a motion to suppress is not de novo. United States v. Harper, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162543 (D.N.J. Aug. 26, 2021). Defendant was stopped with reasonable suspicion, and … Continue reading →
CA11: There was justification for ptf’s stop, so pretext question doesn’t get to jury
“The plaintiffs contend that the record contains evidence that could lead a jury to conclude that Officer Benton merely used the tag violation as a pretext for an otherwise unlawful stop. But Officer Benton’s subjective purpose for conducting the traffic … Continue reading →
M.D.La.: Evidentiary objection to product of search isn’t addressed in a suppression motion
Defendant’s argument is really an evidentiary objection, not a ground to suppress. Suppression is denied. United States v. Sterling, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160728 (M.D.La. Aug. 24, 2021). “Here, the credited testimony of all three officers is that Deputy Lowe … Continue reading →
D.Nev.: Use of cell site simulator to track another’s phone leading to def was reasonable
The government’s use of a cell site simulator to track another person’s cell phone didn’t infringe on defendant’s rights. United States v. Goldsby, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160651 (D.Nev. Aug. 25, 2021). The court order (six years pre-Carpenter) showed probable … Continue reading →
IL: State showed reasonable belief in common authority for consent
The state established reasonable belief in common authority of defendant’s wife over his micro-SD card where there was child pornography. To rebut the state’s consent case, defendant would have to show that she actually had limited authority over the card, … Continue reading →
D.N.J.: Dashcam showed no RS for traffic stop
The court having reviewed the dashcam, the officer lacked reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop. The government’s alternative argument that there was generalized reasonable suspicion of drug dealing isn’t timely. On the merits, it still is inadequate. United States v. … Continue reading →
OH1: Telling def to keep his hands out of his pockets and then put them on hood when he wouldn’t didn’t taint later consent
During a stop, defendant was told to keep his hands out of his pockets, but he didn’t and he was fidgeting and putting his hands in and out. Telling him to put his hands on the hood after all that … Continue reading →
TX9: Court clerk can swear officer for SW application
The affidavit for search warrant does not have to be sworn to before the issuing magistrate under Texas law. A clerk will do. Fender v. State, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 6605 (Tex. App. – Beaumont Aug. 9, 2021). No reasonable … Continue reading →
D.Conn.: Not reasonable here to handcuff plaintiff for presenting handgun permit during traffic stop
Handcuffing plaintiff for presenting his handgun permit when stopped wasn’t reasonable. “Because, on the record read in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, no reasonable police officer could have believed he or she had probable cause to arrest … Continue reading →
ND: Co-tenant’s bedroom couldn’t be subject to probation search
Co-tenant’s bedroom in probationer’s house was not a common area subject to a probation search. Failure to object at the time isn’t consent. State v. Cochran, 2021 ND 141, 2021 N.D. LEXIS 141 (Aug. 5, 2021). Consent to search the … Continue reading →
CO: Consent to officer’s entry extended to her briefly leaving and reentering
Defendant’s consent for an officer to enter extended to her reentry after leaving to retrieve a camera and then returning (even before getting it). People v. Stone, 2021 COA 104, 2021 Colo. App. LEXIS 1089 (Aug. 5, 2021). Even though … Continue reading →