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- USA Today: Cell phone SW for cause of crash
- Treatise on sale to 11/1
- MD: While protective sweep information made it into SW affidavit, there was PC without it
- N.D.Ga.: A Customs forensic search of a cell phone away from the border was still a border search
- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
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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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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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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: Standing
CA11: Attorney has no standing in legal mail searched in a prison cell
An attorney of an inmate has no Fourth Amendment right in his client’s prison cell for the opening of prisoner mail during a cell security search. Williams v. Russo, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 1063 (11th Cir. Jan. 22, 2016). Appellate … Continue reading
FL1: No standing in a package shipped from and to a fictitious person
Defendant lacked standing in a seizure and search of a package shipped with drugs, and his name was not on the package either as the sender or recipient or in a fictitious business name associated with him. State v. Williams, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: No standing in the search of the person of another
Defendant’s motion to reopen the suppression motion for the third time is denied. He has no standing in the search of somebody else. United States v. Spencer, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174240 (D.Minn. Dec. 11, 2015). The officer ran LPNs … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def had no REP in USPS Express Mail with fictitious names; PC for SW included def’s IP address checking tracking of packages on USPS website
US Postal Inspectors found out that defendant was mailing express mail packages weekly from Las Vegas to Memphis from the same USPO facility. They reviewed video of the lobby and found the prior visits. They staked out the lobby and … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Def’s failure to provide affidavit as to his standing justified denying motion to suppress without a hearing
“A hearing is not warranted here to determine the circumstances surrounding whether defendant voluntarily consented to the search. As with his motion to suppress his statements, defendant does not include his own affidavit as to the facts alleged surrounding the … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Govt failed to prove legal basis for impoundment and inventory
Defendant had standing in his father’s car that he let defendant drive. The inventory of the car and impoundment was not for a legitimate inventory purpose. It was impounded because another police department asked for it. “The government has failed … Continue reading
D.Conn.: While def should have presented affidavit of standing, the SW inventory supports his standing
In a corporate office search, defendant should have presented an affidavit to show his standing in the office space. Despite that, however, the government’s search inventory strongly supports his standing because it shows documents taken from what was described as … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Def has burden of showing standing in business premises; he can’t just rely on govt’s theory of case
Defendant had the burden of showing standing in business premises to challenge the search, and he cannot rely on the government’s theory of the case to do so [the latter is a premise on which I disagree: why isn’t that … Continue reading
CA9 narrows the Heck bar even more; and attendees of a party had no standing to challenge a police entry
In a § 1983 lawsuit over an LAPD entry into a warehouse to break up a music party that resulted in an arrest of a few for resisting, the individual plaintiffs who were attendees of the party lacked standing to … Continue reading
Two on Rodriguez and extended stops
The stop of defendant’s vehicle was extended for a dog sniff. The defense argued that it was unreasonable, and the trial court found it was de minimus. Rodriguez was then decided, and it applies. The dog sniff occurred after defendant … Continue reading
GA: Overlong stop was reasonable here because officer was dealing with two cars
Defendant was not seized, although the stop was long. There was another driver in another car also being dealt with, and the officer had to get another to the scene. Defendant was never told he was under arrest, nor was … Continue reading
OH4: Defendant didn’t have standing to challenge pole camera surveillance of friend’s house
Defense counsel was not ineffective for not raising a technical challenge that, at the time, was meritless but the law later changed. The exclusionary rule wouldn’t apply. He also lacked standing to challenge pole camera surveillance of somebody else’s house. … Continue reading
TN: Nexus to def’s house more easily shown when object of search is jewelry from a store robbery
Defendants were accused of a jewelry store heist. The small nature of the items involved makes it more likely they’d be kept at home until disposed of, and that shows nexus. As to standing, defendants without it don’t get to … Continue reading
OR: Passenger’s backpack in car was subject to automobile exception
Passenger’s backpack in the vehicle at the time of the stop was subject to the automobile exception. State v. Furrillo, 274 Ore. App. 612, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1291 (Nov. 4, 2015). Defendant’s admission during a stop on reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
WV: SI for fleeing in a car is unreasonable
Defendant was arrested for fleeing in a car and handcuffed. The search incident of the car was unreasonable because defendant was restrained and away from the car, and there was not reason to believe there was anything in the car … Continue reading
LA3: The person who owned a document obtained by SW clearly has standing for its return
Somebody was denied a job at a hospital, and complained to the Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office who sought a search warrant for the letter received that apparently caused the job denial. A judge pro tem issued the search warrant … Continue reading
KY: No standing in GPS placed in a borrowed car
Defendant and others were suspects as serial robbers, and the police placed GPS devices on two cars in 2008. On defendant’s, he was not the owner and he just borrowed it. Placing the GPS in the first place was not … Continue reading
D.Md.: Another NSA suit fails for lack of standing under Clapper
In another case against the NSA, plaintiffs can’t show standing under Clapper because the injury is speculative because the NSA doesn’t tell us what it’s doing, so the case is dismissed. Wikimedia Foundation v. National Security Agency Central Security Service, … Continue reading
OH9: No standing in a package of drugs shipped to house in boyfriend’s name
A package containing cocaine was shipped to defendant’s house in the name of her boyfriend. She had no standing in the package because her name wasn’t on it. State v. Padilla, 2015-Ohio-4220, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 4112 (9th Dist. Oct. … Continue reading