Archives
-
Recent Posts
- SCOTUS: Geofence warrants governed by Carpenter and are a search; remanded for resolution of issues (interesting take on third party doctrine, too)
- The Guardian: ‘It’s dangerous and it’s going to erode trust’: redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears
- W.D.N.Y.: Possibility of co-conspirators in mass murder justified emergency disclosure request to Apple, Verizon, and Facebook
- E.D.N.Y.: Flight out a window is exigency for police to enter
- W.D.Tenn.: A driveway isn’t always curtilage
-
-
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
OH2: Def taken to hospital for mental eval couldn’t have clothes inventoried by police because of lack of arrest
Defendant was detained and taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation. He was made to change into hospital clothing, and his clothes were placed in a hospital property bag. The police inventory of the bag wasn’t justified because defendant … Continue reading →
M.D.Fla.: Guest’s host’s consent was coerced and suppressed
Defendant was an overnight guest with standing. His host’s consent was coerced by the police and wasn’t voluntary. United States v. Powell, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141017 (M.D. Fla. July 16, 2019)*:
N.D.Ga.: Officer’s SW affidavit that said def could be ID’ed from his tattoos without seeing his face wasn’t false
Defendant was ID’ed by the police from surveillance videos, and it was a false statement that they could ID him without seeing his face. The search warrant to photograph his tattoos was issued with probable cause. United States v. Mitchell, … Continue reading →
D.Ore.: Rental car company can’t be a third-party consenter just because def was unauthorized driver
Defendant was an unauthorized driver of a Dollar rental car. When he was stopped, the officer called Dollar, and they wanted the car repossessed. The court finds that the car rental company cannot be a third-party consenter to a search … Continue reading →
E.D.Mich.: 2255 IAC challenge to warrant completely contradicted by record of conviction and appeal [this was farfetched]
Defendant’s 2255 Fourth Amendment/Sixth Amendment ineffectiveness challenge completely contradicts the position taken in the district court and his admissions before conviction and on appeal. Defense counsel couldn’t be ineffective for not coming up with that. United States v. Fonville, 2019 … Continue reading →
N.D.Ohio: Officers knew def had CP on cell phone; finding cell phone in plain view permitted seizure
Even assuming the search warrant covered only under the roof, defendant’s cell phone was found in plain view on the driveway and it’s incriminating nature was already known to the officers, therefore, readily apparent. United States v. O’Neill, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading →
OH10: Carpenter not shown to be retroactive for post-conviction purposes
Defendant’s post-conviction petition seeking to apply Carpenter is denied. It’s a successor petition and untimely, and Carpenter isn’t shown to be retroactive. State v. Teitelbaum, 2019-Ohio-3175, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 3268 (10th Dist. Aug. 8, 2019).* Defendant consented to talk … Continue reading →
WA: EMTs would be medicating and intubating def in transit after car wreck, and that’s exigency for warrantless blood draw
Defendant was in a bad wreck and the first responders could smell alcohol. He was going to be medicated and intubated for transport to the ER. A warrantless blood draw was reasonable for exigent circumstances because the sample would have … Continue reading →
VT: Flagging down def in driveway while officer on welfare check call was consensual stop; led to DUI arrest
A state trooper went to defendant’s house for a welfare check on a person, and pulled in the driveway and started toward the house. A car was coming down the driveway and he waved for the car to stop so … Continue reading →
OH10: Def’s stop turned from consensual to a seizure when the officer saw a baggie of drugs in his hand
Defendant and another were encountered by police after coming out of a drug house. The encounter was consensual until defendant tried to walk away, but the officer had already seen a baggie of drugs in his hand by plain view. … Continue reading →
W.D.Tex.: Cell phone search at border crossing was by consent
Defendant was a regular at the Americas bridge port of entry at El Paso being a community college student and an El Paso Walmart employee. One time, he rejected sending his car through the x-ray machine, and his cell phone … Continue reading →
D.V.I.: Consent wasn’t voluntary where def refused consent and officers kept asking
Defendant’s consent was involuntary. He refused consent and the officers kept asked him three times to get him to agree. United States v. Clark, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126985 (D. V.I. July 30, 2019). Defendant on the totality consented to … Continue reading →
CA6: Attacks on facts of PC with “what-ifs” are question for jury on proof BRD
There was probable cause for defendant’s arrest. “Ruffin offers a parade of what-ifs in response” to that, but they’re all questions for the jury on guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, not probable cause. United States v. Ruffin, 2019 U.S. App. … Continue reading →
VA: Lying to police during consensual encounter then refusing admittance to home isn’t obstruction
Obstruction conviction reversed: “[T]here is no statute or case law that stands for the proposition that lying to law enforcement officers during a consensual encounter, or failing to admit them to one’s home on request, constitutes an obstruction of justice … Continue reading →
D.P.R.: Officer opened def’s door without PC or consent; suppressed
Officer’s opening defendant’s door without probable cause or voluntary consent requires suppression of weapons found inside. (The USMJ conducted a hearing and the USDJ had doubts about some facts and conducted another one.) United States v. Figueroa-Figueroa, 2019 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading →
IL: Carpenter applies to CSLI search five years before it was decided because there was no binding precedent to contrary
Carpenter is applied to CSLI information obtained five years before it was decided. There was no binding precedent in Illinois or the Seventh Circuit, and the question was even avoided. People v. Strickland, 2019 IL App (1st) 16-1098, 2019 Ill. … Continue reading →
E.D.Mo.: Successor habeas for 2008 CSLI denied
Successor habeas denied for lack of certification from the court of appeals. Defendant was convicted in 2009, and his first 2255 was filed in 2012. This one claims his 2008 or so CSLI was invalid under Carpenter. Henderson v. United … Continue reading →
NJ: State’s references to refusal to consent violated 4A & 5A
NJ finally holds that the state’s repeated references to defendant refusing consent as consciousness of guilt violated his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. State v. Sui Kam Tung, 2019 N.J. Super. LEXIS 101 (June 28, 2019):
E.D.Pa.: Ruse to gain entry for arrest was reasonable on totality
Police used a ruse to get access to defendant’s house to execute an arrest warrant on him, and this was reasonable on the totality. United States v. Jones, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107015 (E.D. Pa. June 25, 2019):
OH2: Owner of real property has no power to consent to search of visitor’s or co-tenant’s property
The owner of real property had no authority to consent to the search of a visitor’s backpack. State v. Holland, 2019-Ohio-2351, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 2456 (2d Dist. June 14, 2019). The owner of real property could not consent to … Continue reading →