Archives
-
Recent Posts
- CA7: False confession claim is a 4A not 14A claim
- CA5: RS required of weapons or contraband for search of vagina
- CA4: Affidavit for SW provided neither nexus nor timing and even failed GFE
- CA9: Ptfs didn’t meet burden of showing administrative subpoena was 4A violation or in bad faith
- CA2: No 4A requirement for SWs being issued with notice to target
-
-
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
CA5: Consent of motorist based on “before you go” was involuntary
The consent was found by the district court to be involuntary because it was based on “before you go”: “Also at the suppression hearing, Spelying testified that as Robertson turned to leave, the officer asked him, ‘before you go, we … Continue reading →
OR: Encounter at sea to look at fish tags was not by consent
Defendants were fishing 28 miles off Oregon for halibut in a fishing zone. One of them pulled up and released a yellow-eye rockfish which is a deep water fish that will die if released in shallow water, and that’s what … Continue reading →
SD: State DUI advice card tells detainees they’ve already consented by driving drunk, so the state can’t claim consent was voluntary
The state DUI advisement card tells the detainee that he had already consented to a taking of his blood, so the consent was coerced and void. State v. Medicine, 2015 SD 45, 2015 S.D. LEXIS 77 (June 10, 2015):
E.D.N.Y.: Return of property motion denied because forfeiture action coming
A motion for return of property under Rule 41(g) was denied where the government represented that it was about to institute proceedings for forfeiture or a criminal proceedings. Motions for return of property are to be exercised sparingly and not … Continue reading →
Cal.App.Div.-San Diego follows Heien
After originally holding a reasonable mistake of law would not support a stop, Heien was decided, and the court reconsiders and holds that it does. People v. Campuzano, 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 489 (App. Div. San Diego June 5, 2015). … Continue reading →
MS: Blank space for place to be searched in the SW voided search
The place to be searched in the search warrant was completely blank, and that makes the warrant void under well-settled precedent. $293,720 was seized. State ex rel. Miss. Bureau of Narcotics v. Canada, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 304 (June 4, 2015). … Continue reading →
CA3: It is not a 4A violation to fail to leave a full copy of the SW at the premises searched
The district court made credibility determinations and found defendant’s wife consented to a search of their house, and defendant consented to a search of a safe. The fact the police did not leave a full copy of the search warrant … Continue reading →
D.Neb.: CI’s significant information was corroborated, albeit innocent in itself
Officers independently corroborated the CI and that made the CI reliable. The fact they were innocent were still significant things that proved correct. Their observations were also consistent with drug transactions. United States v. De La Torre-Casas, 2015 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading →
NY1: Voluntariness shown by experience with criminal justice system and advice of right to refuse; handcuffs removed before consent granted
“Defendant, who had prior contacts with the criminal justice system, provided his consent to search both orally and in writing, and he acknowledged that he had been notified of his right to refuse consent …. Although a large number of … Continue reading →
D.Nev.: Other searches in FBI fake internet repair entry case suppressed
In the Phua case, the FBI fake internet repair entry, the court also grants defendant’s motion to suppress other searches based on the product of the first illegal search because they depended on the first. United States v. Phua, 2015 … Continue reading →
WA does not permit inventory of a closed container not tied to offense
Defendant was driving a stolen truck identified by a license plate reader. After his arrest, a black shaving kit in the truck was inventoried, and it should have been inventoried without opening it. Also, the state didn’t contest standing below, … Continue reading →
D.Minn.: Def showed his consent by stepping aside and waving officers in
Defendant was asked for consent to enter his apartment, and he stepped to the side and waved his arm gesturing to come in. He manifested consent by his actions. United States v. Duran, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65777 (D. Minn. … Continue reading →
NJ: Protective sweep of car that nobody was getting back into was unreasonable
Defendant was in a car with three others stopped for traffic violations. None of the four owned the car, but the driver produced the registration and insurance card and admitted his license was suspended. All four were frisked and nothing … Continue reading →
MS: Unknown and uncorroborated CI was woefully insufficient
CI was unknown to the officer and he had no information on the CI’s basis of knowledge nor did he corroborate anything. The motion to suppress should have been granted. Chesney v. State, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 277 (May 19, … Continue reading →
E.D.Wis.: Circumstantial evidence of drug dealing will support a SW; direct evidence not required
Circumstantial evidence of drug dealing is all that’s required for a search warrant to issue for a house. “Similarly, in United States v. Burton, 288 F.3d 91, 103 (3rd Cir. 2002), the court held that direct evidence of drug-dealing activity … Continue reading →
W.D.Okla.: Def consented to further questioning when also told he was free to go
“The evidence shows that Trooper Rohr issued the warning, returned Defendant’s papers to him, told him to have a safe trip and turned away from Defendant’s pickup truck to return to his patrol car. He then turned back and asked … Continue reading →
CA8: Consent to search a computer includes the external hard drive plugged into it
Police came to defendant’s house for a sex offender location check, and he admitted them into the house. There was a laptop downstairs, and defendant consented to a search of it. Defendant asked to go to the bathroom, and the … Continue reading →
OR: Refusal to consent to a search of purse can’t even be a factor in reasonable suspicion
Defendant’s refusal to consent to a search of her purse can’t even be a factor in reasonable suspicion. Moreover, information about past or even recent drug use isn’t reasonable suspicion of drug use at a later time. State v. Barker, … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: An affidavit’s sufficiency is determined based on its actual contents, not what it allegedly lacks or could have been added
An affidavit’s sufficiency is determined based on its actual contents, not what it allegedly lacks or could have been added, citing United States v. Allen, 211 F.3d 970, 975 (6th Cir. 2000) (en banc)). This is a forgiving standard. Here, … Continue reading →
D.Conn.: Consent finally given to show cooperation with LEOs was voluntary
Officers did not need probable cause to believe defendant would be at his address, just a reasonable belief to execute an arrest warrant. After the arrest, he refused repeatedly consent and insisted on a warrant. While officers were off getting … Continue reading →