Archives
-
Recent Posts
- Jail searches: (1) body scan led to SW for body cavity search and (2) biometric scans reasonable
- D.Haw.: Ex parte communications about SW issuance doesn’t require later recusal
- CA5: Bogus traffic stop can’t support frisk
- Jezebel: One Piece of Flock Camera Data Put This Innocent Woman in Jail for 13 Days
- CA3: Coast-to-coast collective knowledge
-
Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog -
"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)
-
“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
CA1: When police justifiably shoot at a car, a passenger hit has no claim
A police officer fired at a vehicle driven by an armed man that was trying to hit him, and a passenger was hit. On the undisputed facts, the use of force was reasonable. Fagre v. Parks, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading →
NY: Tenants can consent to a rental property inspection
In a rental property inspection, the tenants consented, and that was constitutionally sufficient. Town of Huntington v. CFLNYNY, LLC, 2021 NY Slip Op 50009(U), 2021 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 27 (Suffolk Co. Jan. 7, 2021).* There was probable cause for a … Continue reading →
W.D.Wash.: Demand for records complied with doesn’t state a state law claim for invasion of privacy
A demand for records from the federal government doesn’t state a claim under Washington state law when plaintiff grudgingly gave up the records. Daviscourt v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 246610 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 10, 2020)*:
CA5: Burglary call led to plain view of drugs in car, then a search
Police responded to a potential burglary call and encountered a vehicle. In plain view the officers could see what was likely methamphetamine. That led to a search that found explosive devices. The plain view was reasonable. United States v. Miller, … Continue reading →
E.D.Ky.: Def consented to search of car; request was “not … sufficiently coercive”
I see cases like this all time time, and it really happens. Clients admit it, and I’ve seen the video. But I’m not going to stop arguing they felt compelled to consent: “So, the question now before the court is … Continue reading →
CA6: “Hey, man, I said come here” was still a consensual encounter
The district court’s finding of fact is not clearly erroneous. The officer said he said “please” and defendant said he said “Hey, man. … Hey, come here,” and when defendant continued to walk, the officer supposedly yelled, “Hey, man, I … Continue reading →
CA11: Record supports third-party consent argued but not decided below
Defendant operated through a corporate website running a gold bullion scam where money was received and no gold delivered. Another corporate employee with administrative privileges received complaints and looked in the non-public parts of the website to print evidence for … Continue reading →
OH5: For collective knowledge, state needs to call all officers involved
Defendant prevails on his claim the state failed to show collective knowledge. Only one officer testified at the suppression hearing, and nothing showed what the reporting officer knew. State v. Chattoo, 2020-Ohio-6800, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 4635 (5th Dist. Dec. … Continue reading →
M.D.Fla.: Storage unit rental agreement consented to landlord entry
The rental agreement for defendant’s storage unit itself showed there was no reasonable expectation of privacy in the unit if the landlord suspected unlawful or unsafe use. Here, there was a dog sniff outside the door. “Because Defendant consented to … Continue reading →
PA: On PCR, def has to call the third-party consenter as a witness to attempt to show lack of consent
On post-conviction review, defendant didn’t call as a witness the person who consented to the entry to testify that she did so involuntarily. Therefore, he failed in his burden of proof. Defendant was properly subjected to a DV arrest, even … Continue reading →
NM: Officer’s statement seeking consent he’d never been turned down for a SW was coercive
The officer’s statement seeking consent that he’d sought and obtained 222 search warrants and never been turned down for one was coercive. Thus, there had to be a showing of probable cause to the defendant and probable cause here was … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: How def answered other questions during his stop was pertinent to the voluntariness of his later consent
How defendant answered other questions about his paperwork and where he was going was important to show that he understood when asked for consent on the totality of circumstances. United States v. Reyes-Martinez, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217510 (W.D. Ky. … Continue reading →
KS: GFE applies to blood draw before court held it unconstitutional
“Applying State v. Perkins, 310 Kan. 764, 449 P.3d 756 (2019), to the circumstances of this case, the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies and allowed the district court to consider the results of a blood test for blood … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: “The Sixth Circuit has long held that a police officer does not violate the Fourth Amendment by asking a driver questions after the initial traffic stop has ended.”
“The Sixth Circuit has long held that a police officer does not violate the Fourth Amendment by asking a driver questions after the initial traffic stop has ended. United States v. Erwin, 155 F.3d 818, 823 (6th Cir. 1998) (en … Continue reading →
E.D.Tenn.: Issue preclusion applies in criminal cases but state’s dismissal of criminal case after motion to suppress doesn’t preclude feds
Issue preclusion applies in criminal cases, too, and the state’s dismissal of a case in the face of a successful motion to suppress doesn’t preclude the federal government from prosecuting afterward. This is a recognition of dual sovereignty. United States … Continue reading →
KS: Conduct can show consent
Nonverbal conduct can show consent. Here, defendant swept his arm in front of him suggesting only “come in.” State v. Daino, 2020 Kan. LEXIS 256 (Nov. 13, 2020). Defendant’s limited association with drug premises under surveillance wasn’t enough to make … Continue reading →
OH5: Failure to preserve search issue by conditional plea that would lose on merits wasn’t IAC
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not making sure defendant had a conditional plea to preserve his search issue because the appeal would fail. State v. Smith, 2020-Ohio-5241, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 4117 (5th Dist. Nov. 6, 2020). “Here, it is … Continue reading →
TX13: Legibility of issuing magistrate’s signature on SW is subject to GFE
The legibility of the signature of the issuing magistrate for a search warrant is an issue subject to the good faith exception. This court first held the illegibility was reason to suppress, but the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed. State … Continue reading →
S.D.N.Y.: Householder had common authority over def’s room to at least enter
A pair of shoes in plain view in defendant’s room in somebody else’s house were validly seized. The householder had sufficient common authority to at least consent to enter the room. It was not defendant’s primary residence. The officer’s reliance … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: When there is PC and the automobile exception applies, the 4A doesn’t require a drug dog be used
The officer had probable cause on the totality for a vehicle search under the automobile exception. It wasn’t required that the drug dog that was there be used, too. United States v. Moralez, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206109 (W.D. Ky. … Continue reading →