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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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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)
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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
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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: FISA
The Register: US domestic foreign spying bill progresses through Congress
The Register: US domestic foreign spying bill progresses through Congress by Kieren McCarthy
EFF: Sen. Feinstein Supports “Backdoor” Warrants, So Why Don’t Reps. Nunes and Schiff?
EFF: Sen. Feinstein Supports “Backdoor” Warrants, So Why Don’t Reps. Nunes and Schiff? by David Ruiz: As the deadline for renewing and reforming key portions of the NSA’s spying apparatus looms less than two months away, two of the most … Continue reading
Reason: Rand Paul Worries Whether Surveillance Reform Will Even Be Debated in Senate
Reason: Rand Paul Worries Whether Surveillance Reform Will Even Be Debated in Senate by Scott Shackford: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is concerned his peers will attempt to reauthorize and possibly even expand the federal government’s surveillance powers without any public … Continue reading
EFF: EFF and ACLU Ask Appeals Court to Find Section 702 Surveillance Unconstitutional
EFF: EFF and ACLU Ask Appeals Court to Find Section 702 Surveillance Unconstitutional by Andrew Crocker: As Congress considers reforming Section 702, the NSA’s warrantless surveillance authority, EFF and ACLU are asking a federal court of appeals in New York … Continue reading
Reason: Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Wyden Unveil Long-Awaited, Privacy-Protecting Surveillance Reform Bill
Reason: Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Wyden Unveil Long-Awaited, Privacy-Protecting Surveillance Reform Bill by Scott Shackford The Fourth Amendment matters to some legislators.
EFF: FBI Director Wray is Wrong About Section 702 Surveillance
EFF: FBI Director Wray is Wrong About Section 702 Surveillance by David Ruiz: Newly-minted FBI Director Christopher Wray threw out several justifications for the continued, warrantless government search of American communications. He’s wrong on all accounts.
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and querying the 702 database for evidence of crimes
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and querying the 702 database for evidence of crimes by Orin Kerr:
Just Security: Surveillance “Reform”: The Fourth Amendment’s Long, Slow, Goodbye
Just Security: Surveillance “Reform”: The Fourth Amendment’s Long, Slow, Goodbye by Patrick Eddington:
CNN: Intel leaders urge Congress to reauthorize NSA surveillance program
CNN: Intel leaders urge Congress to reauthorize NSA surveillance program by David Shortell:
WaPo: This surveillance law needs reauthorizing — and tightening, too
WaPo: This surveillance law needs reauthorizing — and tightening, too by the Editorial Board:
Star and Stripes: Factions forming as Congress attempts to curb US spy power
Star and Stripes: Factions forming as Congress attempts to curb US spy power by Karoun Demurjian of The Washington Post:
EFF: 702 Spying: Backdoor Search
EFF: 702 Spying: Backdoor Search:
Cato: BREAKING: FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Bill Circulated
Cato: BREAKING: FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Bill Circulated by Patrick G. Eddington Earlier this afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee circulated its draft FISA Sec. 702 reauthorization bill. This is a preliminary readout of the major problems I see with this … Continue reading
CNN International: NSA reveals 100000 foreign nationals under surveillance
CNN International: NSA reveals 100000 foreign nationals under surveillance by Jim Sciutto and Zachary Cohen
Independent Journal Review: Lawmakers and Intelligence Community Differ on Surveillance Powers Before Reauthorization Showdown
Independent Journal Review: Lawmakers and Intelligence Community Differ on Surveillance Powers Before Reauthorization Showdown by Haley Byrd:
Koddos: CIA Discovered to Hack Wi-Fi Routers for Over a Decade
Koddos: CIA Discovered to Hack Wi-Fi Routers for Over a Decade
Wired: Warrantless US Spying Is Set to Expire Soon. Let it Die
Wired: Warrantless US Spying Is Set to Expire Soon. Let it Die by Kevin Montenegro and Stephen Renderos:
Courthouse News Service: Spy Tool’s Renewal Sparks Tense Senate Hearing
Courthouse News Service: Spy Tool’s Renewal Sparks Tense Senate Hearing by Brandi Buchman: WASHINGTON (CN) – Stoking the Senate Judiciary Committee’s frustrations on Tuesday, intelligence experts had few answers to direct questions on reauthorizing a surveillance tool. Set to expire … Continue reading
The Hill: Opinion: Mass surveillance reform is one issue where Republicans and Democrats can work together
The Hill: Opinion: Mass surveillance reform is one issue where Republicans and Democrats can work together by Neema Singh Guliani and Jesse Blumenthal: The government has a responsibility to help keep Americans safe, but in the process it must also … Continue reading
FISA judge finds five years of illegal surveillance of some U.S. persons, but it wasn’t willful; remedial measures required; still, 4A not violated
McClatchy: Secret court rebukes NSA for 5-year illegal surveillance of U.S. citizens by Tim Johnson: U.S. intelligence agencies conducted illegal surveillance on American citizens over a five-year period, a practice that earned them a sharp rebuke from a secret court … Continue reading