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- Jail searches: (1) body scan led to SW for body cavity search and (2) biometric scans reasonable
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- Jezebel: One Piece of Flock Camera Data Put This Innocent Woman in Jail for 13 Days
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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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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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: Consent
CA8: If officers “lingered” during protective sweep, nothing else was found as a result
Defendant complained that the officers “lingered” during the protective sweep. Even if they did, nothing else was found as a result. United States v. Crutchfield, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 34446 (8th Cir. Nov. 2, 2020). The driver of the car … Continue reading →
N.D.Ill.: Def had standing to challenge search of a garage of another he was using and had exclusive control over at the time
“Perez has provided enough evidence to show that, at the time of the search, he had control over the Dakin garage and the ability to exclude others from it. He was storing materials there, there was no one else on … Continue reading →
CA6: Def consented to expanding breadth of SW because it was in his interest
Police had a search warrant for defendant’s property with marijuana grow operation, but the warrant didn’t cover outbuildings [usually they don’t even have to to cover them]. Here, defendant consented to the breadth of the search, and it was voluntary … Continue reading →
D.S.C.: Renter of hotel room had authority to consent to search of room but not her partner’s safe he brought to room
The renter of a hotel room has apparent authority to consent to its search. She did not, however, have either actual or apparent authority to consent to his safe in the room. United States v. Jaqu, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading →
D.S.C.: Going from and back to house after drug deals showed nexus
Defendant’s going from and back to his house after drug deals showed nexus to the house for a search warrant. United States v. Jaqu, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183603 (D.S.C. Oct. 5, 2020). Plaintiff’s claim that he should have been … Continue reading →
CA5: Vehicle in hit-and-run could be seized as “instrumentality of crime”
Plaintiff’s car could be seized on an apartment building parking lot as an “instrumentality of crime” when it had been involved in a hit-and-run. (Neither party cites what the court thinks is a case in point, which it follows.) Rountree … Continue reading →
OH11: Def’s admission he was wearing same shoes as the day of the murder was plain view
Defendant’s admission at his police interview that he was wearing the same shoes as the time of the murder justified seizure of the shoes as plain view. State v. Thomas, 2020-Ohio-4635, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 3482 (11th Dist. Sept. 28, … Continue reading →
CA11: Shooting suicidal person who posed no threat to others unreasonable
Shooting a suicidal person three times without an effort to deescalate was unreasonable. The officer came upstairs with a gun drawn without knowing of any risk to himself, and there never was. Teel v. Lozada, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 30358 … Continue reading →
CA2: Just because officers couldn’t agree on def’s words of consent doesn’t mean there wasn’t consent
Just because none of the officers could recall the exact words used, they were consistent that defendant consented, and the district court’s crediting that was entitled to substantial weight. United States v. Frye, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 28465 (2d Cir. … Continue reading →
N.D.Cal.: Court doesn’t credit that a person could just walk away from a police encounter; people get shot for that
Defendant was seized by a police car parked face-to-face with his car and spotlights shining in. Defendant couldn’t be expected to drive on the sidewalk to just leave. “The Court concludes that when the uniformed police officer here parked a … Continue reading →
CA5: Bivens not extended to excessive force claim on entering VA hospital
Bivens won’t be extended to an alleged unprovoked attack at a VA hospital metal detector. Oliva v. Nivar, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 28052 (5th Cir. Sept. 2, 2020). “The issue before the Court is whether the Government violated Rule 16 … Continue reading →
CA6: CoA denied; consent conceded in guilty plea, and def now claims it was insufficient
“Hawkins conceded in his criminal proceeding that he consented to Fults’s search of his vehicle. To the extent that he now claims that his consent was insufficient because he did not own the vehicle, reasonable jurists would agree that his … Continue reading →
PA: Def gets benefit of Birchfield by adequately raising issue before it was even decided; but he loses on merits
Defendant would get the benefit of Birchfield because he developed and preserved the same argument below. He loses on the merits, however, because he voluntarily consented before the officer told him of the criminal penalties for refusal, so his consent … Continue reading →
CA8: Community caretaking entry still justified protective sweep
Police came to defendant’s house for a community caretaking call, and they heard a person inside calling for help. They knew defendant was on probation for firearms, that he had a history of drug use, and that he had surveillance … Continue reading →
CA6: Ptf still doesn’t show a question of fact whether he consent to officer looking in his wallet
Plaintiff’s response “absolutely” during a frisk to looking in his wallet was reasonably determined to be consent. His argument over the words used didn’t create a sufficient question of fact. Gale v. O’Donohue, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 25752 (6th Cir. … Continue reading →
GA: A search waiver as a condition of a bail bond is valid
A search waiver as a condition of a bail bond is valid in Georgia. Watson v. State, 2020 Ga. App. LEXIS 446 (Aug. 12, 2020):
MD: Officer had RS and consent for patdown
The officer had reasonable suspicion but he asked for consent to search defendant’s person for a weapon, which he granted. It was consensual on the totality. Defendant didn’t make a state constitutional argument in the trial court but did on … Continue reading →
CA11: Stone bars 2254 on a 4A claim; the question is availability of a trial court remedy and appeal, not whether it was correct
2254 CoA denied under Stone. He had a suppression hearing in the trial court and appealed it. “While Mr. Brantley argued that the 2d DCA’s decision was unreasonable, he does not contend that he was denied the opportunity to argue … Continue reading →
TX4: Def’s wife had joint use of iPad so she could deliver it to the police
“Even if we assume the Fourth Amendment was implicated when Gonzalez’s wife showed the iPad videos to the police, Gonzalez’s wife had apparent authority to permit police to view the iPad videos because she brought the iPad from her family’s … Continue reading →
S.D.Ohio: Presence of PC moots GFE
The search warrant for storage buildings was issued with probable cause, so the good faith exception is moot. United States v. Payne, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131805 (S.D. Ohio July 27, 2020).* Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging CSLI … Continue reading →