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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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
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General (many free):
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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)
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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
S.D.Tex.: Gov’t fails in burden of showing consent to laptop search by mentally impaired 30 year old
In a child pornography search involving alleged consent for search of a laptop, the court finds that the 30 year old defendant was mentally impaired and didn’t understand what he was consenting to. While the question is close, the government … Continue reading →
S.D.W.Va.: Def’s girlfriend consented to search of house for guns when order of protection issued
Defendant’s live-in girlfriend went to the courthouse and obtained an emergency protection order (EPO) which, under West Virginia law, required the respondent to rid himself of firearms. Here, she specifically alleged that she’d been threatened with a gun. Police came … Continue reading →
IL: Defense counsel not ineffective for not predicting Riley
Defense counsel was not ineffective for not predicting Riley. “Riley obviously changed things, but to accept defendant’s argument we would have to conclude counsel was ineffective for failing to predict the future and anticipate Riley. We decline to impose such … Continue reading →
CA11: “[D]o what you gotta do” was consent here
“[D]o what you gotta do” was consent here, not mere acquiescence to authority. “The officers’ testimony at the suppression hearing also reflects that May gave permission to enter. In similar circumstances where only a few officers were present without their … Continue reading →
CA5: Consent to search text messages was not temporally limited
While the officer asked defendant about what happened “this morning,” that was after consent to search his text messages was granted, so consent was not limited in time to that morning. United States v. Venegas, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 22979 … Continue reading →
CA7: Consent to search a laptop in a child pornography case included a full forensic review
On plain error review, consent to search a laptop in a child pornography case included a full forensic review. United States v. Price\, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 22996 (7th Cir. December 5, 2014). There was no evidence defense counsel didn’t … Continue reading →
Inquisitr: Beloit, Wisconsin Police To Residents: ‘Let Us Search Your House for Guns You Might Not Know You Have’
Inquisitr: Beloit, Wisconsin Police To Residents: ‘Let Us Search Your House for Guns You Might Not Know You Have’: In a move that has pro-gun rights advocates up in arms, a Wisconsin police department has asked its residents to allow … Continue reading →
CA4: Raising hands when asked if armed and saying “no” can be implied consent to patdown
Defendant impliedly consented to a patdown. When he was asked if he was armed, he raised his arms and said no. The officer understood that to be an invitation. United States v. Cohen, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 22934 (4th Cir. … Continue reading →
N.D.W.Va.: Lesser expectation of privacy in a commercial dumpster than in a residential one
There is a lesser expectation of privacy in a commercial dumpster than in a residential one. Affirmative steps must be taken to lock it up and bar others. United States v. Skruck, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167952 (N.D. W.Va. December … Continue reading →
PA: “Gun-like bulge,” high crime area, and turning away from the officer was RS
A “gun-like bulge” in clothing, high crime area, and turning away from the officer as he went by was reasonable suspicion defendant was armed. Commonwealth v. Carter, 2014 PA Super 265, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4539 (December 2, 2014).* The … Continue reading →
CA3: No REP of passenger who abandoned car with stolen property in it
A passenger who walks away from a car when stopped has abandoned the car. He also has no reasonable expectation of privacy in stolen property he left in the trunk. In a suppression motion and hearing, any argument not raised … Continue reading →
N.D.Okla.: Longtime boyfriend given standing in girlfriend’s place whether spending night or not
Defendant was the boyfriend of the woman who was the householder, and he had standing to contest the police entry into her home. Whether he was an overnight guest at that moment, the course of their long relationship was such … Continue reading →
D.Minn.: No nexus shown in house only incidentally connected to defendant
There was no nexus shown at a house defendant merely visited between his house and a drug deal he left to complete 20 blocks away, stopping at the subject house in between. “It stretches credulity to conclude that Gilliam’s single … Continue reading →
IL: Implied consent law not per se unconstitutional under McNeely
Illinois’ implied consent statute is not unconstitutional per se under McNeely. Every case has to be judged on its own facts. This involved a serious accident with injuries requiring hospitalization and defendant consented to the blood draw. People v. Hasselbring, … Continue reading →
CA7: Defense witness on apparent authority completely unbelievable
This district court did not credit defendant’s witness on the question of consent. As for credibility, “The court relied on the officers’ corroborative testimony, Hearnes’s ‘willingness to lie to law enforcement and under oath,’ and Hearnes’s demeanor throughout her testimony, … Continue reading →
IL: Search under the automobile exception can occur after the car is moved to police station
The police had detailed probable cause from a CI there would be heroin in a hidden compartment in defendant’s car. The automobile exception permits the car to be moved to the police station for a search for the hidden compartment. … Continue reading →
TN: Cell phone could be seized with PC and exigency and SW then applied for
Defendant consented to show a video of the victim on his cell phone, and it was immediately obvious that the cell phone had evidence the police needed because the time of the recording contradicted several things the defendant said. They … Continue reading →
FL3: Consent for DNA sample need not include warning it would be tested against CODIS, too
Defendant had his DNA taken by consent to attempt to match it to DNA found in a 2012 crime, but it didn’t match. It did, however, in CODIS match a 2008 sexual assault case. His motion to suppress was granted … Continue reading →
OH12: Living with a probationer is not a complete waiver of a reasonable expectation of privacy, except as to common areas
By living with a probationer, one’s reasonable expectation of privacy is not completely lost and the entire house is not open to a probation search. The probationer can only consent to search of common areas. Here, the probationer let the … Continue reading →
SC: Def had no standing to contest police entry onto the porch where he was hanging out, allegedly dealing drugs
Officers watched the porch of Apartment 122 and observed five men 10:00-10:30 pm, and five cars came up and one would go to the cars and do what appeared to be a hand-to-hand transaction. Finally, the officers moved to the … Continue reading →