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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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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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"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: Automobile exception
OR: Automobile exception applies to any lawful stop where PC of a crime develops
The automobile exception applies when a vehicle is lawfully stopped for any reason and then probable cause develops. State v. Bliss, 283 Ore. App. 833, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 256 (Feb. 23, 2017). Defendant requested a meeting with the police … Continue reading
NE: Automobile exception depends upon its mobility, not on def’s ability to move it
The automobile depends only on the mobility of the vehicle and not on whether defendant could be the one moving it. Even if he’s in custody, the vehicle is still movable. State v. Rocha, 295 Neb. 716, 2017 Neb. LEXIS … Continue reading
IA: CoA declines to obviate the automobile exception; that’s up to state SCt if it ever happens
“On appeal, Wagamon ‘urges that now is the time to determine if the automobile exception is out of date and incompatible with the protections offered by the Iowa Constitution.’” That’s the prerogative only of the state supreme court. State v. … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: After gun was found in car, search incident and automobile exception didn’t apply, but inventory was inevitable [right result, wrong reasoning]
After defendant’s car was stopped, the officers conducted a Michigan v. Long protective weapons search of the car while gaining control of the defendant, and a gun was located. There was a search incident: “Furthermore, he was standing at the … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Def, a citizen of Mexico suspected of drug trafficking in his mother’s car, was lawfully arrested when he was lured to a border crossing to talk about her permanent resident status
Defendant’s mother, a citizen of Mexico who crossed regularly at Tecate, was arrested for importation of meth in her car, which she claimed was a gift from her son. Officers were looking for him and finally found him in Mexico … Continue reading
KS: Getting in car after a drug deal makes its search subject to search incident and automobile exception
Defendant did a drug deal with narcs and had $220 in cash with recorded numbers. He got in his car. On the stop of the car, the search for the $220 was justified by either search incident to arrest or … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Court just doesn’t buy officer’s story about seeing gun; suppressed
The court just doesn’t believe the officer’s testimony that he saw a gun to justify an engine compartment search under the automobile exception. The government’s fallback position that it was valid as a Terry frisk is also rejected for lack … Continue reading
IA: Passenger’s open container seen in parked car didn’t justify search of car console
Defendant’s car was parked about midnight in June with the windows down and the radio loud. He, the driver, was standing outside the car. The passenger was still inside. Officers stopped and approached the car. They saw the passenger had … Continue reading
ND: Telephone call from ID’d caller about a shooting in a house was exigency for entry
A telephone call from an alleged shooting victim’s brother about the shooting was objectively reasonable for exigency when corroborated with the fact that the victim wasn’t immediately found when officers arrived. State v. Karna, 2016 ND 232, 2016 N.D. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Nev.: GPS warrant based on transaction from car three weeks earlier wasn’t stale
A GPS tracking warrant wasn’t stale based on a drug deal out of the car three weeks earlier. That led to probable cause to stop and search the vehicle two weeks later. United States v. Cabrera, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
NY1: Search of a car doesn’t have to occur at the scene of stop
Defendant was stopped, and the smell of marijuana came from the car when he was stopped. A joint was seen on the console. The car was towed rather than searched at the scene. The search back at the station was … Continue reading
OR: State carries burden of proving the reliability of the drug dog in the first instance (under state const.)
“Here, we easily conclude that the state did not create a sufficient record to support the use of Quincy’s alert as a basis for probable cause to search the car. At the suppression hearing, the state elicited testimony from Raiser … Continue reading
TN: Blood on def’s sock supported PC for automobile exception
Based on blood on defendant’s sock, on the totality there was probable cause to believe that more possible blood evidence would be found in his car. That was sufficient for the automobile exception to apply. State v. Peden, 2016 Tenn. … Continue reading
NM: Driver’s failure to produce proof of registration and insurance doesn’t permit search of console
Defendant’s failure to produce his registration and proof of insurance during a traffic stop didn’t give the officer justification to search the center console for it himself. Thus, defense counsel was ineffective for not raising this issue. State v. Howl, … Continue reading
VA: Mobility for automobile exception doesn’t depend on fact def would be arrested as soon as he got on the motorcycle
The mobility basis for the automobile exception has nothing to do with whether the officer watching would have been able to apprehend defendant if he suddenly appeared and tried to drive the motorcycle off. “Moreover, ‘[a] vehicle’s inherent mobility—not the … Continue reading
OH5: Def’s wrecked empty car on road to house justified entry onto curtilage to check on potential injury
Defendant’s car was upside down and there was blood on the passenger air bag. Nobody was there. The officer went to the house where the car was registered to find the driver and passenger. “Present in this case was a … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: The automobile exception is based on inherent mobility, and the fact the defendant is handcuffed and the police have the keys is “inconsequential”
The automobile exception is based on inherent mobility, and the fact the defendant is handcuffed and the police have the keys is “inconsequential.” United States v. Collins, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101003 (M.D.Fla. May 31, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
MO: Where there’s PC to believe evidence is in a vehicle, it may be seized to remove it for search
When there is probable cause to believe a vehicle contains criminal evidence, exigent circumstances can support its seizure pending determination whether to search it under the automobile exception or to remove it to a secure location for search. State v. … Continue reading
D.Ore.: No territorial limitation for SW to Facebook under § 2703
“The territorial limitation in Rule 41 … does not limit warrants issued pursuant to [18 U.S.C.] § 2703.” A search warrant for Facebook in another jurisdiction was valid. United States v. Bundy, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94476 (D.Ore. July 20, … Continue reading