Archives
-
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
-
-
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
NYT: Would You Let the Police Search Your Phone?
NYT: Would You Let the Police Search Your Phone? by Roseanna Sommers & Vanessa K. Bohns: We are much more likely to give consent than we think.
C.D.Ill.: Def counsel had no duty to raise lack of an AW because it’s a frivolous argument
Defense counsel had no duty to raise lack of an arrest warrant for defendant’s arrest because it was frivolous and wouldn’t affect the outcome of the case at all. Brown v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69027 (C.D. Ill. … Continue reading →
CO: Age is a factor in the voluntariness of consent; here a juvenile
Age is a factor in the voluntariness of consent. Here, it was a juvenile and the evidence supports the finding of consent. People in interest of B.D., 2019 COA 57, 2019 Colo. App. LEXIS 553 (Apr. 18, 2019). The only … Continue reading →
D.Me.: Absent room renter could consent to search of motel room def was alone in under Randolph
Defendant was the sole occupant of his hotel room, and the absent renter consented to the search. That consent was binding on defendant under Randolph. It wasn’t ineffective assistance of counsel for defense counsel to fail to argue for an … Continue reading →
CA11: Use of def’s nickname was PC where officer could connect it to def
The use of defendant’s nickname by the CI was sufficient when the officers could equate that with defendant, and Wong Sun is distinguished where the officers couldn’t. Entry for a protective sweep before the search warrant was issued didn’t violate … Continue reading →
CA5: Typo on an IP address in affidavit for SW that nobody noticed doesn’t void the search; GFE applies
A typographical error in an IP address in the affidavit for search warrant was overlooked by everybody, and it was reasonable for the police to still rely on it under the good faith exception. United States v. Gonzalez, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading →
Two on cell phone password consent
Consent to get defendant’s cell phone password didn’t require a Miranda warning. United States v. Ricks, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59859 (E.D. Tex. Apr. 8, 2019). Defendant was in custody at the police station with his cell phone which the … Continue reading →
D.Ore.: Delay under Rodriguez and its relation to consent during the stop
Delay under Rodriguez and its relation to consent during the stop: “The Rodriguez standard is thus used to determine whether officers’ actions exceed the narrow scope of the justification for a stop. By contrast, the issue of voluntariness addresses whether … Continue reading →
DE: Nolo plea after suppression denied was collateral estoppel to civil case over search
Plaintiff’s nolo plea after his motion to suppress was denied was collateral estoppel to his civil case over the arrest involving the same issue. Rogers v. Morgan, 2019 Del. LEXIS 160 (Apr. 2, 2019). When the officer asked for consent … Continue reading →
Reason: Hit & Run blog: Going to Burning Man? The Feds Want You Searched for Drugs
Reason: Hit & Run blog: Going to Burning Man? The Feds Want You Searched for Drugs by Brian Doherty Can the government demand a warrantless search with no probable cause of ticket holders as a condition of issuing an event … Continue reading →
OR: Grandmother of juvenile living with her has authority to consent to search of his room despite his objection
In the search of a juvenile’s room in his grandmother’s house she has the authority to consent over his objection. State v. A.S., 296 Ore. App. 722 (Mar. 22, 2019):
CA1: Police lie about exigency vitiated consent; and there was no qualified immunity
A police lie that conveyed the need to defendant for urgent action to address a pressing threat to person or property vitiated any voluntary consent. Moreover, the officer doesn’t get qualified immunity. Págan-González v. Moreno, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 8716 … Continue reading →
Cal. App. Div.: Driver being told he had to submit to a BAC test wasn’t consent at all
The officer here told defendant that he had to submit to a blood test, so there was no voluntary consent. “Here, the officer violated section 655.1 by telling defendant he had to choose instead of requesting that he submit to … Continue reading →
CA1: Def consented to seizure of his hard drives, including providing password over the phone
A child pornography knock and talk was conducted in Louisiana, and defendant consented to seizure and search of his hard drives. The first encounter with defendant was outside the house. Any illegality was attenuated. When police attempted to search the … Continue reading →
W.D.Pa.: Trash pulls finding baggie cut corner pieces was probable cause
Trash pulls finding baggie cut corner pieces was probable cause for possession of drugs on the premises. United States v. Jackson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38664 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 11, 2019) The evidence shows that defendant’s wife consented to a … Continue reading →
S.D.Ohio: Householder here consented to police entry to search for def
The householder here consented by his actions to police entry to search for defendant. “Regardless of who is deemed more credible, Marshall admits that, after he told the officers that OJ was not there, he unlocked the screen door and … Continue reading →
Cato blog: Unconscious People Can’t Consent to Police Searches
Cato blog: Unconscious People Can’t Consent to Police Searches by Ilya Shapiro and Patrick Moran:
VT: When RS for a traffic stop dissipates, the stop must end
The officer had reasonable suspicion that defendant was driving under the influence, and that justified the stop and getting defendant out of the car. It became evident, however, that reasonable suspicion dissipated, and continuing the stop after that required suppression … Continue reading →
CA6: Consent to search is a non-testimonial act not implicating 5A
“The district court did not plainly err in admitting evidence seized from Rouch’s cell phone because giving consent to a search is a non-testimonial act that does not implicate a defendant’s Fifth Amendment rights. See United States v. Calvetti, 836 … Continue reading →
D.Me.: Officers’ lack of awareness of def’s mental illness a factor in def’s consent to search
Officers were unaware of defendant’s mental illness when they talked to him and secured his consent. On the totality, it is found voluntary. United States v. Merrill, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25763 (D. Me. Feb. 19, 2019) [it seems to … Continue reading →