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- Reason: Homeland Security Is Monitoring Activists Building Anti-Flock Tech
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- VA: Body cam video of valid arrest would not be suppressed
- NM: Trial court’s finding of consent is reversed because the court engaged in its own internet investigation beyond what the parties provided
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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)
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ACLU on privacy
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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: Dog sniff
CA5: Byrd doesn’t give the passenger any more standing than he already didn’t have
Byrd doesn’t give the passenger any more standing than he already didn’t have. United States v. James, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 15531 (5th Cir. May 24, 2019). “Under our precedent that applied to the stop at issue, the officers’ use … Continue reading
CO: Because CO has legalized recreational MJ, use of a drug dog requires PC because a dog sniff uncovers lawful activity
Because Colorado has legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, admission of possession of it in a car doesn’t permit a drug dog to sniff the car without probable cause to believe there is an illegal amount in the car. … Continue reading
OH12: Package in transit was reasonably briefly detained for dog sniff
Briefly detaining a package in transit at least on reasonable suspicion for a dog sniff was reasonable and not a seizure of the package. They were staying at a local B&B and received two FedEx packages there, one under an … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Drug dog immediately on the scene didn’t extend the stop
Because the drug dog got right there, the dog sniff didn’t extend the stop in violation of Rodriguez. United States v. Thorn, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70781 (W.D. Ky. Apr. 26, 2019). Defendant argues that his case was like Rodriguez, … Continue reading
D.Neb.: SW for cell phone defeats motion for return of phone for time being
Defendant’s cell phone was seized when he was arrested. Five days later, the government sought a search warrant for the phone. Defendant isn’t yet entitled to return of the phone. United States v. Gonzalez, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61279 (D. … Continue reading
TN: Riley would not be applied retroactively on post-conviction
In a post-conviction case, Riley wouldn’t be applied retroactively by statute to defendant’s cell phone search incident legal before it was decided. Sayles v. State, 2019 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 193 (Mar. 28, 2019). The stop was based on a … Continue reading
D.Ore..: Running drug dog around car after a DUI arrest was reasonable
Defendant was arrested for DUII and there was probable cause. “As Mr. Aruiza-Andrade was under arrest, the further delay while a canine was summoned did not unlawfully extend the traffic stop.” United States v. Aruiza-Andrade, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53788 … Continue reading
CA9: Credibility findings re drug dog and handler are binding on appeal
Defendant’s package was opened in transit with a warrant after a dog sniff. After a three day suppression hearing, the district court found the dog handler credible and there was no misrepresentation of facts concerning the dog’s accuracy or training. … Continue reading
KS: Inadequate findings and conclusions must be brought to trial court’s attention before appeal
Defendant should have objected to the adequacy of findings of fact and conclusions of law on his search issue in the trial court first. “Without such an objection, this court must presume the district court found all the facts needed … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Def overcomes presumption of reliability of new drug dog under Florida v. Harris
A USMJ under Florida v. Harris concludes that the defense successfully rebutted the reliability of a drug dog on the job only one month, and the alert based search was held without probable cause. United States v. Acosta, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
WaPo: The Supreme Court’s ‘alternative facts’ about drug-sniffing dogs
WaPo: The Supreme Court’s ‘alternative facts’ about drug-sniffing dogs by Radley Balko:
D.Ariz.: A dog sniff of the person at the border is not “non-routine”
Defendant crossed into the U.S. at a pedestrian border crossing. A dog sniff of the person was conducted. “The Court finds that the intrusiveness of the canine search did not rise to the level of a non-routine search, which would … Continue reading
KS: Def was already stopped when police approached; he got out of car and locked it and was arrested; no possessory interest involved when a drug dog sniffed his locked parked car
Defendant was stopped on a grocery store parking lot, got out of the car, and locked it. He was searched incident to arrest. A little later a drug dog came and stiffed the car. Defendant was deprived of no possessory … Continue reading
D.Ore.: Where the detention was with RS, the fact it took an hour to get a free drug dog there wasn’t unreasonable
The officer had reasonable suspicion for detention for the dog sniff. Then it took an hour to get a drug dog there because the police were busy that night. It was not unreasonable on the totality. United States v. Krumwiede, … Continue reading
NE: For Rodriguez purposes, it doesn’t matter that the stop was at a gas station and not on the side of the road
Defendant’s reasonable detention pre-dog sniff was at a gas station and not on the side of the road. That doesn’t change the constitutional calculus. State v. Ferguson, 301 Neb. 697 (Nov. 30, 2018). “Here, the Court finds the warrant described … Continue reading
NYTimes: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars
NYTimes: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars by Stacy Crowley: Drug-sniffing dogs that are trained to detect marijuana are complicating searches where pot has been legalized. That’s forcing some into early retirement.
IL: Dog sniff at motel room door violates 4A
A 2014 dog sniff at a motel room door violates the Fourth Amendment, and a reasonably well-trained officer in Illinois would know that. Suppressed. People v. Lindsey, 2018 IL App (3d) 150877, 2018 Ill. App. LEXIS 807 (Oct. 30, 2018). … Continue reading
DE: State const’l claim Caballes should be rejected would not be considered on mere plain error review
Defendant for the first time on appeal raised a state constitutional argument that Caballes on dog sniffs as searched should be rejected. The court declines to go there on plain error review. Bradley v. State, 2018 Del. LEXIS 477 (Oct. … Continue reading
IL refuses to differentiate between homes and apartment buildings for dog sniffs at the door
IL refuses to differentiate between homes and apartment buildings for dog sniffs at the door because an apartment is still a “house” under the Fourth Amendment, and a different rule is unfair. An apartment dweller’s curtilage is his or her … Continue reading