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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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General (many free):
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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)
--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
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 →
KY: State’s comment on refusal to consent to DUI test was prejudicial and error
Defendant was convicted of DWI 4th by a jury. The evidence in the case was slim, and he had witnesses with him that night who testified he never drank any alcohol. The state’s comment on his refusal to take a … Continue reading →
E.D.N.Y.: Assuming pawn shops are closely regulated businesses, ptfs stated a claim under § 1983 for arbitrary and unreasonable enforcement
Assuming pawn shops are closely regulated business, in this § 1983 case against arbitrary and unreasonable administrative searches under Burger, plaintiffs survive summary judgment. There is a police memo attempting to limit the exercise of police discretion, but the city … Continue reading →
W.D.La.: Def didn’t have a REP in a friend’s carport visible from the street when police saw him
Defendant was on the carport of a house, and he was mistaken for a wanted person. It was not unconstitutional for officers to tell him to put his hands on his head for safety reasons. Officers came in and he … Continue reading →
CA6: Officer’s looking in def’s cigarette box while asking for consent didn’t invalidate consent
On the totality, defendant voluntarily consented to the search of her home. There were officers there with body cameras, but the discussion about consent wasn’t captured. Other officers were looking through the house [maybe a protective sweep]. One officer, apparently … Continue reading →
W.D.Mo.: Def’s consent under a partial misleading threat as to possible sentence was still voluntary
Defendant still consented in the face of the threat of a 20 year sentence, which was partly misleading under the Sentencing Guidelines. The search of the buildings, vehicle, and cell phone was reasonably within the scope of his consent. There … Continue reading →
N.D.Ohio: Def’s saying to CI he had heroin at home was nexus
Probable cause was shown for defendant’s house when he said to the CI that he didn’t have heroin on him, but at home. United States v. Novak, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92445 (N.D. Ohio June 3, 2019).* Officers had probable … Continue reading →
S.D.Ohio: A federal-state joint task force isn’t required to use a Rule 41 search warrant
A federal-state joint task force isn’t required to use a Rule 41 search warrant. United States v. Williams, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89133 (S.D. Ohio May 29, 2019). “Defendant bears the burden of showing beyond mere speculation that the disclosure … Continue reading →
S.D.Tex.: Giving the password for a cell phone search shows consent
“After considering the totality of the circumstances [in great detail], the court finds that Gallegos’s consent to search his car and the two cell phones was freely and voluntarily given, at least with regard to a manual search on the … Continue reading →
OH11: Pre-Carpenter CSLI was lawfully obtained in good faith
Defendant’s cell tower location information was obtained by subpoena before Carpenter. The good faith exception means it won’t be excluded. State v. Burke, 2019-Ohio-1951, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 2021 (11th Dist. May 20, 2019). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for withdrawing … Continue reading →
E.D.Mich.: “open the motherfucking door or I’m going to tear it down” showed a lack of consent
Plaintiff overcame defendants’ motion for summary judgment in his Fourth Amendment § 1983 case on consent and exigent circumstances for a warrantless entry. As to consent, “open the motherfucking door or I’m going to tear it down” showed a lack … Continue reading →