Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA2: No 4A requirement for SWs being issued with notice to target
- CA6: Denying ptf access to his own bathroom during a search of his house stated 4A claim
- W.D.Mo.: Not exactly following the inventory policy doesn’t make it unreasonable under 4A
- GA: No IAC for not challenging complete cell phone download before search
- DNYUZ: CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues
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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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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)
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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.Mont.: Being ordered from your vehicle doesn’t require a Miranda warning
Being ordered from your vehicle doesn’t require a Miranda warning. Mimms, of course, permits the occupants to be ordered out. Over time, this ripened to reasonable suspicion. United States v. Lugo, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200612 (D. Mont. Nov. 19, … Continue reading →
KS: Welfare check turned into unreasonable seizure without RS
The officer was called to a convenience store for a welfare check of a woman inside who apparently was sick. When she finally came out, she was fine and appeared fine, but the officer, for no apparent reason, escalated the … Continue reading →
E.D.Mo.: Def consented to four undercover officers who first met him at post office to search house for a wanted man
Four undercover officers followed defendant to the Post Office, and they approached him about Jordan being at his house. He said they could come to the house, and he consented to an entry into the house and the look for … Continue reading →
OH2: Open-ended consent to search a car includes closed containers, here def’s purse
During a traffic stop, defendant consented to a search of her car. She was out of the car and her purse was inside. The consent was open-ended, and it thus would include closed containers, like her purse in the front … Continue reading →
S.D.Fla.: Cruise ship cabins are subject to border search
Defendants were passengers on the cruise ship MSC Seaside which arrived at Miami from Carribean ports. The passenger cabins were subject to search under the border search exception. When they knocked at the cabin door and it opened, they could … Continue reading →
CA9: Shaking a fanny pack rather than searching it was reasonable during a stop-and-frisk
Shaking defendant’s fanny pack to see if there was a weapon rather than opening it was reasonable as a part of stop and frisk. United States v. Elenes, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 33067 (9th Cir. Nov. 5, 2019). Officers could … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: Consent to search a vehicle includes the spare tire compartment
Defendant’s open consent to search a vehicle included the spare tire compartment because it’s known that people secrete things there. United States v. Stevens, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 191954 (W.D. Ky. Sept. 29, 2019), adopted, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 190842 … Continue reading →
W.D.Mo.: Officer’s limited knowledge of Spanish still enabled her consent
Defendant claimed a lack of consent due to a language barrier. The court finds one officer was proficient enough in Spanish to effectively communicate the request for consent. United States v. Molina-Lopez, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 191087 (W.D. Mo. Sept. … Continue reading →
D.N.J.: US can’t be sued under Bivens
Plaintiff can’t bring a Fourth Amendment Bivens claim against the United States because of sovereign immunity. There is always FTCA, but it has prerequisites. Leave to amend granted. Whitaker v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188071 (D. N.J. Oct. … Continue reading →
W.D.La.: Dismissal of indictment is not remedy for DEA allegedly violating its policy manual, even if it did
Defendant’s general allegation that the DEA officers violated their own policy manual isn’t specific and doesn’t even rise to the level of dismissal of the indictment, which is what he alleges. “Indeed, the Supreme Court has held that violations of … Continue reading →
E.D.Wis.: Police allegely entered curtilage to shine headlights in windows, and homeowner consented to entry; def was inside and without standing to contest
Defendant contended that police drove onto the curtilage and shined police headlights and lights into the premises. The USMJ couldn’t adequately resolve that because of a lack of photographic evidence showing what was where. But, that led to a consent … Continue reading →
S.D.Ind.: Stalking horse rationale for PO’s cover for LEOs in search not universally accepted, and there was RS for this search anyway
Analyzing all the probation and parole search cases, the court finds defendant’s claim that probation was really a “stalking horse” for ATF unavailing. He had a reduced expectation of privacy and that there was reasonable suspicion for the search in … Continue reading →
NY3: Strip search after a frisk not justified merely for drug arrest; must be RS drugs on person, and here there wasn’t
Defendant had been frisked, and there’s no justification in New York for a strip search of all drug defendants without more information, at least reasonable suspicion, that drugs are actually secreted on the person. That was lacking here. People v. … Continue reading →
CA7: Airbnb tenant who was theft victim can consent to police entry to rental unit
Plaintiff’s Airbnb tenant suffered a theft, and he had the authority to consent to an entry by police to investigate it. Wonsey v. City of Chicago, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 30651 (7th Cir. Oct. 15, 2019).* The officer didn’t prolong … Continue reading →
AZ: Presenting a consent form after def lawyers-up doesn’t violate Miranda
Defendant was Mirandized, and she lawyered up. She was presented with a consent form for her cell phone with the understanding that if she didn’t consent they’d get a search warrant. She didn’t ask for a lawyer, and she consented. … Continue reading →
E.D.Mich.: Giving password to computer and Facebook account waived REP as to that person
Defendant gave his passwords to his computer and Facebook to his victim. Her searches are not Fourth Amendment violations. United States v. Johnson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169622 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 1, 2019). The state’s admission on appeal that they … Continue reading →
NE: After stop concluded, “[H]ey, before you go, do you have a minute to talk to me?” led to consensual extension of stop
The officer, in effect, told defendant she was free to leave, but he kept talking. “Second, VanWinkle did not require compliance with her request. VanWinkle asked, ‘[H]ey, before you go, do you have a minute to talk to me?’ The … Continue reading →
CA9: Def didn’t show standing in package without his name on it or showing knowledge of contents
Defendant’s papers didn’t show that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in a package that arrived on June 5th. His name wasn’t on the package as sender or receiver, the package arrived June 6th, and he didn’t say he … Continue reading →
E.D.Va.: Def doesn’t lose REP in cell phone by loaning it out while he’s in jail
The government obtained defendant’s cell phone from somebody else using it while he was in jail, and they sought a search warrant which was denied. Later they searched the phone and claimed defendant had no standing. The court finds defendant … Continue reading →
TN: Defendant’s consent was voluntary; he was twice told he could refuse
Defendant consented to a search of his motel room, and he was twice told he had the right to refuse a consent search. State v. Savage, 2019 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 582 (Sept. 19, 2019). Defendant wasn’t seized when he … Continue reading →