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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)
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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
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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: FISA
WaPo: Surveillance reform without the Fourth Amendment
WaPo: Surveillance reform without the Fourth Amendment by Orin Kerr: Don’t overlook one key feature of surveillance reform and the passage of the USA Freedom Act: It came from legislation, not the Fourth Amendment. A court had wrongly allowed the … Continue reading
WaPo: Bill ending NSA phone data collection heads to Obama
WaPo: Bill ending NSA phone data collection heads to Obama by Mike DeBonis & Ellen Nakashima: The Senate passed a significant remake of U.S. surveillance powers Tuesday, after an internal split among Republicans delayed consideration of the bill and caused … Continue reading
WaPo Editorial: Rand Paul should stop stalling the USA Freedom Act
WaPo Editorial: Rand Paul should stop stalling the USA Freedom Act: LEGISLATION TO reform the National Security Agency’s surveillance of telephone metadata and put it on a firmer legal footing has passed the House with a huge bipartisan majority. President … Continue reading
R Street: A guide through Senate amendments to the USA FREEDOM Act
R Street: A guide through Senate amendments to the USA FREEDOM Act by Mike Godwin & Nathan Leamer: As most anyone interested now knows, Congress last night now allowed Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act to sunset. This expiration appears … Continue reading
Foreign Policy: Forget the Patriot Act – Here Are the Privacy Violations You Should Be Worried About
Foreign Policy: Forget the Patriot Act – Here Are the Privacy Violations You Should Be Worried About by Stephen Vladeck America hasn’t even begun to have a meaningful debate about curtailing the government’s right to spy on citizens.
NYTimes: Key Parts of Patriot Act Expire Temporarily as Senate Moves Toward Limits on Spying
NYTimes: Key Parts of Patriot Act Expire Temporarily as Senate Moves Toward Limits on Spying by Jennifer Steinhauer & Jonathan Weisman: WASHINGTON — The government’s authority to sweep up vast quantities of phone records in the hunt for terrorists expired … Continue reading
WaPo: Sun sets on some NSA surveillance powers as Rand Paul foils extension
WaPo: Sun sets on some NSA surveillance powers as Rand Paul foils extension by Mike DeBonis & Ellen Nakashima: The legal authority for several national security programs expired at midnight Sunday and will not be renewed for at least two … Continue reading
HuffPo: Rand Paul Vows To Block Patriot Act Extension
HuffPo: Rand Paul Vows To Block Patriot Act Extension by Sam Levine: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Saturday that he would block the Senate from passing an extension of the Patriot Act, which is set to expire at 12:01 … Continue reading
The Economist: Reviewing the surveillance state: America argues anew over how much snooping the NSA can do
The Economist: Reviewing the surveillance state: America argues anew over how much snooping the NSA can do: DEEP in the desert in Utah, the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s signals intelligence branch, has built a $1.5 billion centre to scoop … Continue reading
Center for Democracy and Technology: Can a Quantitative Approach Help Address Government Surveillance?
Center for Democracy and Technology: Can a Quantitative Approach Help Address Government Surveillance? by Jens-Henrik Jeppsen: When legislators and governments introduce new national security measures, they often do so in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events. This means new surveillance … Continue reading
Cato.org: Good Precedents against NSA Spying
Cato.org: Good Precedents against NSA Spying by Jim Harper: With debate about NSA spying continuing in the Senate, it’s worth looking at some of the historical and modern precedents for protecting our communications and communications data. A few highlights: …
NJ.com: The Patriot Act: A debate that’s dangerous for Chris Christie
NJ.com: The Patriot Act: A debate that’s dangerous for Chris Christie by Paul Mulshine:
NY Times: Obama Weighs Strategy as Data Laws Run Out
NY Times: Obama Weighs Strategy as Data Laws Run Out by Charlie Savage: The Obama administration is weighing what the looming expiration of three counterterrorism laws — including the provision that has been cited to allow the National Security Agency … Continue reading
WaPo: Kentucky conflict? Paul, McConnell start to clash [over NSA]
WaPo: Kentucky conflict? Paul, McConnell start to clash [over NSA] by Mike DeBonis: The GOP senators’ clash on surveillance suggests that Rand Paul’s 2016 hopes loom over the “tight” bond described by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. [And they are … Continue reading
Just Security: Scaremongering about the Patriot Act Sunset
Just Security: Scaremongering about the Patriot Act Sunset by Jameel Jaffer: In a last-ditch effort to scare lawmakers into preserving unpopular and much-abused surveillance authorities, the Senate Republican leadership and some intelligence officials are warning that allowing Section 215 of … Continue reading
The Hill: Administration moves to end bulk data collection
The Hill: Administration moves to end bulk data collection by Julian Hattem and Jordan Fabian: The Senate is preparing for a last-minute attempt to save expiring portions of the Patriot Act, but it may already be too late. The Obama … Continue reading
WaPo: Inspector General finds Justice Dept. slow to create privacy rules
WaPo: Inspector General finds Justice Dept. slow to create privacy rules by Ellen Nakashima: The Justice Department for seven years failed to implement a provision requiring it to create privacy rules for use of an intelligence-gathering tool authorized by the … Continue reading
WaPo: Senate rejects compromise bill on surveillance
WaPo: Senate rejects compromise bill on surveillance by Mike DeBonis and Ellen Nakashima: Senators left Capitol Hill early Saturday morning without taking action to extend or replace a controversial surveillance program set to expire at month’s end, paralyzed by a … Continue reading
The Hill: McConnell’s NSA gambit fails
The Hill: McConnell’s NSA gambit fails by Jordain Carney and Julian Hattem: Mitch McConnell staged an epic gamble over U.S. spying powers — and lost. The Republican leader pledged to keep senators in Washington through the weekend to finish work … Continue reading
Politico: What happens if the PATRIOT Act expires?
Politico: What happens if the PATRIOT Act expires? by Alex Byers and Kate Tummarello: Officials in Washington are warning of a future in which key surveillance provisions are allowed to lapse. With the Senate’s failure to secure a deal to … Continue reading