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- 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
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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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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)
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"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
TN: No Davis GFE for pre-Jones GPS tracking in Tennessee
Pre-Jones installation of a GPS device not saved by a Davis-type good faith exception because Tennessee never adopted the good faith exception and there was no binding precedent from the state or SCOTUS on the issue. [Interesting discussion of the … Continue reading →
OK: Cell phone search warrant based on prior invalid consent search suppressed; no GFE
The pre-Riley search warrant for defendant’s cell phone was based on an invalid consent search, and the good faith exception does not apply to warrants based on a prior illegal search. State v. Thomas, 2014 OK CR 12, 2014 Okla. … Continue reading →
E.D.Ky.: Drs body cavity search at hospital was private search not instigated by the police
Defendant was taken to the hospital for a medical emergency, and the doctor on his own did a search of the body. It was never asked for by the police, so it did not implicate the Fourth Amendment. This case … Continue reading →
KS: Despite coerced consent for blood draw, no exclusionary rule for DL suspension proceeding
The threat to get a BAC warrant here lacked a legal basis under the statute, so defendant’s consent was coerced. The exclusionary rule does not apply in administrative driver’s license suspension proceedings. The court also disagreed with another panel of … Continue reading →
OH2: Five officer knock-and-talk valid where defendant on porch when consent given
Five officers showed up at defendant’s house for a knock and talk and one went down the alley to check around back there. Defendant had a dog, and, when he came to the door, he was asked to come outside. … Continue reading →
N.D.Okla.: Court finds officer mistaken on when consent given, and suppresses
“Fundamentally, the burden of proof for consent is on the government, United States v. Maestas, 2 F.3d 1485, 1491 (10th Cir. 1993), and, as noted above, any ambiguity in the testimony will be resolved against the government. The Court finds … Continue reading →
N.D.Miss.: No IAC not to appeal suppression issue co-def already had affirmed
Defendant was a woman convicted with her husband for child pornography offenses. He appealed the search issue and lost, but she didn’t appeal that. There is no IAC for her lawyer’s failure to appeal the suppression issue since her husband … Continue reading →
MI: Misread license plate partially obscured by trailer hitch didn’t support stop
Defendant’s traffic stop was invalid because the officer misread the license number before entering it for a random check because it was partially blocked by a trailer hitch. “Common experience reveals that thousands of vehicles in Michigan are equipped with … Continue reading →
CA11: Suspicionless parole searches of cell phone and home here were proper
The parole search of defendant’s home and cell phone was permitted by Samson. He’d signed a parole search waiver that permitted a search at any time. Also, the officers had reasonable suspicion, but Samson doesn’t require that if the parolee … Continue reading →
CA9: Suspicionless searches and GPS monitoring reasonable for repeat CP offender
Defendant’s conditions of supervised release including suspicionless searches and GPS monitoring were reasonable because defendant wasn’t a first time child pornography offender. United States v. Tafelmeyer, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 17491 (9th Cir. September 10, 2014).* Defendant consented to a … Continue reading →
FL3: Knock and talk outside def’s gate led to consent; he could have refused and asked for DL back
The trial court erred in suppressing defendant’s knock and talk. He was outside his gated property and could have not consented to the entry. While the police had his DL in hand, he could have asked for it back and … Continue reading →
OR 9/10: four search and seizure cases
Officers had probable cause to believe drugs were in defendant’s car, and that permitted them to search a backpack found within the car. State v. Bennett, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1232 (September 10, 2014). Despite remand, the court reaffirms suppression … Continue reading →
MD: Def’s trying to get back in car after arrest made search incident possible
The search of defendant’s car after his arrest for second degree assault was not invalid under Gant after the search of his person found drugs in his pocket. He tried to get back to the car. Scribner v. State, 2014 … Continue reading →
TX14: Frisk doesn’t have to stop just because knife was found; officer can keep looking
The officer had reasonable suspicion defendant was involved in an assault and was armed. In the frisk a knife was found. The officer was not obligated to stop with that, and he could continue the frisk. Pills were found, but … Continue reading →
IL: Going to back door for knock and talk violated curtilage
The ability to conduct a knock and talk does not sanction police officers to go to all doors of the house to wait and see what happens. Here, officers going to the back door violated the curtilage. The alleged plain … Continue reading →
FL2: Holding on to DL usually turns consensual stop into a nonconsensual
During a voluntary stop, holding onto a person’s DL can make it nonconsensual. Here, the officer was holding defendant’s DL when he asked for consent. Under Horne v. State, 113 So. 3d 158 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013) and other authorities, … Continue reading →
TX1: Fire scene search of unprotected property months after fire not unlawful
Months after a fire, arson investigators entered defendant’s property again to try to determine the source of the fire. It was not a criminal investigation yet. Significant here was that defendant hadn’t done anything to secure the premises, contrary to … Continue reading →
E.D.Ky.: Ruse to get inside a house didn’t void knock and talk consent
Officers came to defendant’s house to do a knock and talk but used a ruse to get inside: They were looking for a third person with a child support warrant for him. The defendant let them in to check the … Continue reading →
CA5: Consent to search trunk doesn’t include passengers bags, too; no apparent authority
While the government didn’t argue standing in the USDC, it was decided, so it can appeal on that question. Passengers in a vehicle have standing to challenge the search of their own luggage. Here, the driver’s consent to search the … Continue reading →
IA: Plain feel of baggie of marijuana was obvious to officer
Plain feel supported reaching in defendant’s pocket to remove marijuana during a frisk. In the officer’s experience, he knew exactly what a baggie of marijuana felt like. State v. Carey, 2014 Iowa App. LEXIS 807 (August 13, 2014). Defendant’s girlfriend … Continue reading →