July 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA11: Yahoo not a govt actor in scanning emails for CSAM
- Treatise 25% off through 7/8
- 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
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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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www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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)
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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
CA5: Cadre of police and helicopter circling overhead not sufficiently “provocative” to make consent involuntary
Defendant’s consent was valid, and a bunch of police officers surrounding the house and a helicopter circling over head were not “provocative” enough to make consent invalid. [And what’s the purpose of the helicopter other than to intimidate? It sure … Continue reading →
CA4: Defendant revoked his consent to search his car, but officers did not stop searching; suppressed
Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense and received no ticket. The officer pulled the Columbo gambit of starting back to his car and “asked him if he would answer ‘a couple of questions real quick.’” Defendant consented and four … Continue reading →
OR: Suspicion of being under the influence of a stimulant was exigency for warrantless UA
There were exigent circumstances for a warrantless UA of the defendant because he was suspected to be under the influence of a stimulant that would dissipate more rapidly than alcohol. State v. Raymond, 274 Ore. App. 409, 2015 Ore. App. … Continue reading →
M.D.Fla.: When a storage unit’s lease is up and notice of sale has been published, no REP exists
When the lease on a storage unit is over and the landlord has published a notice of sale of the contents, the reasonable expectation of privacy is lost. The landlord is in control. Similarly, as to warehouse space, the tenants … Continue reading →
S.D.Ala.: The known CI’s staying involved in the operation supported credibility because it was against penal interest
“It is unnecessary to identify the bare minimum required for an informant’s tip to support reasonable suspicion, because the circumstances of this case rise far above that threshold, and the question is not at all close. Laffitte did not receive … Continue reading →
OK: Refusal to consent as evidence subject to harmless error
Admission of defendant’s refusal to consent to a search in this capital case was error, but it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt on the whole record. The court provides a comprehensive review of state cases on the subject of … Continue reading →
CA2: Ptfs consented to x-ray of car at Niagara Falls border station
Plaintiffs filed a § 1983 case over having their car x-rayed at Niagara Falls. They were given a choice of consent to the x-ray or waiting for a warrant, and they consented. That was not involuntary consent, and the jury … Continue reading →
MN: Criminalizing a motorist’s refusal to take a blood test under Minnesota’s statute fails strict scrutiny review
Criminalizing a motorist’s refusal to take a blood test under Minnesota’s statute fails strict scrutiny review. “We conclude that criminalizing the refusal to submit to a warrantless blood test ‘relates to the state’s ability to prosecute drunk drivers and keep … Continue reading →
E.D.Pa.: Reasonable suspicion to detain pilot and passenger of small plane at rural airport
A small plane took off from California flying to rural Pennsylvania with unusual flight plans that indicated an effort to avoid detection. It stopped for gas in various places, and the pilot’s actions strongly suggested inexperience. DHS called ahead and … Continue reading →
CT: CI said he was a regular purchaser of MJ from def; that overcame 11 day staleness challenge
The CI said he was a regular purchaser of marijuana from defendant, and thus the fact that the last was eleven days before the warrant was not stale. State v. Flores, 2015 Conn. LEXIS 289 (Oct. 20, 2015). Defendant was … Continue reading →
S.D.N.Y.: Not reading the consent form doesn’t make it involuntary; neither does threat to “tear the place apart,” which was disputed
The fact defendant didn’t read the consent form doesn’t make it involuntary. Not reading it was defendant’s choice. “This leaves the agents’ purported threat to ‘tear the apartment apart’ if they obtained a warrant — something the Government contends never … Continue reading →
CA9: Intoxicated man freely consented to searches; actions show he knew what he was doing
Intoxicated man freely consented to searches. “Although Smith appeared intoxicated during the two searches, he had already begun cleaning the crime scene, gave his own version of the events, was able to answer the officer’s questions and sign the consent … Continue reading →
D.Me.: Fourth Amendment claim decided on appeal can’t be raised in 2255
Since defendant’s DNA Fourth Amendment claim was decided on the merits of his appeal, it can’t be litigated in a 2255. Thomas v. United States, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133478 (D.Me. September 30, 2015). Defendant’s consent to a blood draw … Continue reading →
D.S.D.: A black nylon bag found outside def’s curtilage could be seized and searched
Officers came to defendant’s house to serve an arrest warrant, but nobody was home. Walking back to the street, the officers saw a black nylon bag laying just beyond railroad ties in the yard between the house and nearer the … Continue reading →
NY4: Consent to search house not coerced merely because def handcuffed
Defendant’s consent to search his house for weapons after a shots fired call was not coerced merely because he was handcuffed when he consented. People v. Harris, 2015 NY Slip Op 07113, 2015 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7048 (4th Dept. … Continue reading →
TN: Post-conviction petitioner bears burden of showing warrantless search was invalid; here, no witnesses to search called
Defendant on post-conviction did not prove that the motion to suppress an inventory would have been granted (and Tennessee law is favorable to the defense). All he called as witnesses were the lawyers involved and himself, but that does not … Continue reading →
LA: Trial counsel not ineffective for not moving to suppress search that was clearly based on exigency
Trial counsel was not ineffective for not pursuing an exigency-based search issue where police entered after hearing cries for help when the grandfather of missing children entered and found blood on the floor. A suppression motion would have lost. State … Continue reading →
CA1: Consent not tainted by statement officers would search anyway where they had PC for SW
Defendant’s consent was not tainted by the officer’s assertion that his apartment would be searched anyway because there was probable cause for a warrant. Defendant drove himself to the police station for an interview, and he wasn’t in custody for … Continue reading →
OH5: Can’t appeal a suppression issue that wasn’t dispositive of his case because it was merely advisory
Defendant couldn’t appeal a suppression issue that wasn’t dispositive of his case because it was merely advisory. State v. Cooley, 2015-Ohio-3904, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 3773 (5th Dist. September 23, 2015). Defense consent was valid, and it was not based … Continue reading →
GA: Consent to search a motel room for a meth lab includes the trash can
Defendant consented to a search during a knock-and-talk of a motel room for a meth lab. A search of a trash can was within the scope of consent. Fontaine v. State, 2015 Ga. App. LEXIS 562 (September 25, 2015). Defendant … Continue reading →