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- Yahoo Tech: Can you be prosecuted for wiping your phone at the border?
- LATimes: Immigration agents used racial slurs referring to Latinos in text messages, video obtained by ACLU
- Cal.4: No error not unsealing CI’s identity in SW application
- D.P.R.: A shed on the curtilage was within scope of SW
- NY4: Payton does not apply to an arrest in a common area of an apartment building
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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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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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"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: Stop and frisk
D.Ariz.: VA drug tests for medical purposes were valid under the 4A special needs exception
Plaintiff challenged UA drug tests administered by the VA because the doctors there were trying to wean him off opiates. Those tests were reasonable under the special needs exception and for medical purposes. Gorney v. Veterans Administration, 2020 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Chain of custody after execution of a SW isn’t a 2255 ground
Chain of custody after execution of a search warrant isn’t a 2255 ground. It’s a trial issue that was waived and only goes to credibility of evidence for the jury. United States v. Smith, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163635 (E.D. … Continue reading
The Appeal: Highway Stop-And-Frisk: How Pennsylvania State Troopers Conduct Illegal Traffic Searches
The Appeal: Highway Stop-And-Frisk: How Pennsylvania State Troopers Conduct Illegal Traffic Searches (“A review of five years of cases that arose from traffic stops in the south-central region of the state shows that police used underhand tactics to justify holding … Continue reading
OH2: Conduct two days before seeing defendant on street justified stop
The officer’s conclusion that the car associated with defendant had fled from him two days earlier had support in the record, and there was reasonable suspicion for the stop. State v. Stanton, 2020-Ohio-4087, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 2978 (2d Dist. … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Furtive conduct before getting in car justified stop of car
Defendant’s furtive activity before the stop observed on a parking lot and during the stop was reasonable suspicion. United States v. Pierre, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147127 (W.D. La. July 17, 2020).* Defendant admitted to there being drugs in the … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: SI for a bicycle riding infraction is unjustified
Defendant was lawfully stopped for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk over a bridge, but it was only an infraction and a search incident was unreasonable. United States v. Harris, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145000 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 12, 2020). … Continue reading
CA3: FBI notice of being “armed and dangerous” justified stop and furtive movement a frisk
“Here, McKee testified that the FBI notice describing Robinson stated that he was armed and dangerous. McKee also testified that Robinson failed to comply with his first order to put his hands up and kept reaching for his waistband. These … Continue reading
D.S.C.: Officers weren’t familiar with inventory policy and didn’t follow it; suppressed
There was an inventory policy, but the police were unfamiliar with it and didn’t follow it. “[T]he Court finds that the inventory search of Defendant’s vehicle by the Andrews Police Department was not conducted pursuant to any specific criteria, much … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Feeling apparent weapon during patdown allows officer to go inside clothing
Feeling a weapon during a patdown allows the officer to go beyond the outer clothing to retrieve it. United States v. Hightower, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112557 (E.D. N.Y. June 26, 2020). Defendant stopped his vehicle in an intersection where … Continue reading
OH5: Walking down the middle of the street at night in a high crime area justified a patdown
Walking down the middle of the street at night in a high crime area justified a patdown. State v. Hall, 2020-Ohio-2937, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1913 (5th Dist. May 15, 2020).* Replica of Glover: State v. Anglin, 2020-Ohio-2907, 2020 Ohio … Continue reading
D.C.Cir.: Police stopping nearest vehicle after hearing shots fired lacked RS
On de novo review of reasonable suspicion, the court finds defendant was stopped by being blocked in by a police car parked three feet away with takedown lights on. They are designed to obscure vision and disorient the motorist looking … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Backpack in vehicle was subject to frisk under Terry
Search of defendant’s backpack in a vehicle was justified by reasonable suspicion under Terry it contained a weapon. Alternatively, the backpack search could have been permitted under inventory. United States v. McGinnist, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69325 (E.D. Mich. Apr. … Continue reading
OH2: Excessive force in stop-and-frisk was unreasonable
Use of excessive bodily force for a stop-and-frisk by lifting defendant into a wall was unreasonable where defendant did nothing to justify it. That required suppressing the stop. State v. Johnson, 2020-Ohio-2742, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1707 (2d Dist. May … Continue reading
VA: Patdown for firearm was unreasonable where no crime was afoot even though it was apparent def was carrying
Armed officers calling out to defendant “Yo, turn around, you live here?” was a seizure, he attempted to ignore until they caught up with him. He was patted down because of a telltale L-shaped bulge, and a gun removed. The … Continue reading
CA6: Tip of man pacing in a parking lot in an area known for burglaries was RS for stop
Defendant was found to be the subject of a tip that a man was pacing in a parking lot in an area known for burglaries. When confronted, the officer found a warrant for his arrest. When his vehicle had to … Continue reading
CA7: Running warrants on stopped panhandlers was reasonable
Chicago PD officers stopped panhandlers and ran warrants once they had their IDs. “We conclude that officers may execute a name check on an individual incidental to a proper stop under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16, 88 S. … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Controlled buy is PC; CI’s alleged lie isn’t Franks issue
A controlled buy was probable cause. The claim that the CI lied isn’t cognizable under Franks. United States v. Sheridan, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36163 (N.D. Ohio. Mar. 3, 2020). There were disputed questions of fact on whether it was … Continue reading
Appeal.org: Commentary: The Enduring Trauma of Stop-and-Frisk
Appeal.org: Commentary: The Enduring Trauma of Stop-and-Frisk by Jamal Trulove (“As a Black child in San Francisco, I learned early that mine and others’ bodies meant nothing to those supposedly tasked with our protection.”)