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- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
- D.N.M.: Shared driveway outside of fence and gate was not curtilage
- CA6: Knowing passcode to cell phone shows common authority over it to consent
- VI: Smell of MJ no longer PC in VI since legalization
- Reason: 3 Charlotte Cops Resign After Group Chat Reveals Competition To Arrest the Most Black People
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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: Standing
VI: Smell of MJ no longer PC in VI since legalization
Since marijuana is legal in the Virgin Islands, the smell of marijuana from a car is no longer probable cause for a search. People v. Thomas, 2026 V.I. LEXIS 44 (Super. Ct. Oct. 6, 2026). Petitioner does not get a … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Mere possession of a car doesn’t show standing
Just having possession of a car doesn’t show standing. How did it come to be? United States v. Luna-Irizarry, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 232412 (D.P.R. Oct. 8, 2026):
S.D.Ill.: Witness’s memory failure on the stand at trial didn’t support a Franks challenge
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not raising a Franks challenge mid-trial when a participant in the search warrant process had a memory failure on the stand as to something. Offutt v. United States, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 231418 (S.D. Ill. … Continue reading
CA10: No standing in real property defs attempted to buy but didn’t and then wouldn’t leave
Defendants lacked standing in the real property they were attempting to buy but the deal fell through. They knew they had to leave and hadn’t yet. They essentially were trespassers, not tenants. United States v. Wahhaj, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Govt can’t raise new 4A exception in motion to reconsider
While executing a search warrant, officers compelled defendant to provide the passcode to the safe. The court suppressed the contents of the safe because it was not a valid consent. The government doesn’t get to argue inevitable discovery on a … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Def can’t repackage a losing 4A standing claim into a due process claim
A defendant can’t repackage a losing Fourth Amendment standing claim into a due process claim, at least via a 2255. United States v. Vega, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 214580 (W.D. Pa. Sep. 22, 2026):
CA11: NCMEC’s cybertips are reliable enough to support PC and the GFE
NCMEC’s cybertips are reliable enough to support probable cause and the good faith exception. United States v. Gibbs, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 28546 (11th Cir. Sep. 17, 2026). Even if plaintiff could show that the official’s conduct was wrongful and … Continue reading
NC: Standing to contest search of hotel room doesn’t include other guest’s cell phone
As a guest of a guest, defendant had standing to contest the search of the hotel room, but he didn’t have standing to contest the search of the other tenant’s cell phone. State v. Miller, 2026 N.C. App. LEXIS 763 … Continue reading
GA: Facebook warrant was way overbroad and should have been suppressed, but harmless on whole record
The search warrant for defendant’s Facebook account was overbroad where it sought ten months of information where the alleged crime was only over a couple of days and covered “illegal activities.” Despite the illegal search, the conviction is affirmed because … Continue reading
CA11: SD card in a video voyeur device placed in another’s bedroom has no REP
“This appeal is about the reasonable expectation of privacy–or the lack thereof. Kenneth Mininger secretly placed video cameras in shared rooms in his ex-wife’s house. He used these cameras to record his ex-wife’s minor daughter undressing. The police examined the … Continue reading
CA9: Ptfs didn’t meet burden of showing administrative subpoena was 4A violation or in bad faith
Bad faith administrative subpoenas are grounded in the Fourth Amendment, but the burden is high in showing bad faith, and plaintiffs didn’t meet it. Queerdoc, PLLC v. DOJ, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 24567 (9th Cir. Aug. 14, 2026) (“The prohibition … Continue reading
Cal.1: Search condition for mental health diversion was within court’s discretion
The trial court acted within its statutory discretion imposing a search condition on defendant during his mental health diversion. His criminal history justified it. Thompson v. Superior Court, 2026 Cal. App. LEXIS 459 (1st Dist. July 30, 2026). One defendant … Continue reading
KY: Unrelated questions during ongoing traffic stop didn’t extend it under Rodriguez
While the officer asked unrelated questions during the traffic stop, the mission of the stop was ongoing throughout. Therefore, the questions didn’t really extend the stop. Miller v. Commonwealth, 2026 Ky. App. LEXIS 64 (July 2, 2026). The officer saw … Continue reading
TX1: Defendant had no REP in a package of drugs he never possessed and on another person
Defendant lacked standing to suppress 4,100 grams of ketamine seized from Brown because he never possessed the package, had no reasonable expectation of privacy in package of drugs carried by Brown, and the ketamine was recovered away from him during … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Standing has to be shown for the time of the search, not at some time in the past
“Earl was required to show, not that he had an expectation of privacy in the home at some time, but that he had that expectation at the time of the search. United States v. Brazel, 102 F.3d 1120, 1148 (11th … Continue reading
Fed.Cir.: VA’s determination here for mandatory in-home reassessment visits did not violate 4A under Wyman v. James
The VA’s determination here for mandatory in-home reassessment visits did not violate the Fourth Amendment under Wyman v. James. The statute gives the VA that discretion. Latham v. Sec’y of Veterans Affairs, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 17328 (Fed. Cir. June … Continue reading
TX1: Def has a duty to make his record on PC and the SW; missing affidavit was on him
Defendant objected to admission of his vehicle’s black box (event data recorder) for lack of a warrant. The state produced the warrant and affidavit in support. The trial court admitted the warrant but not the affidavit. Without it, defendant can’t … Continue reading
DE: Warrantless entry in DUI case unreasonable
Warrantless entry to detain a DUI suspect was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Claiming exigency isn’t enough. State v. Beasley, 2026 Del. C.P. LEXIS 8 (Del. C.P. June 16, 2026). This defendant has no reasonable expectation of privacy in someone … Continue reading