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- N.D.Ala.: SW not invalid because issuing judge previously represented the target
- The Guardian: ‘We should be worried’: report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools
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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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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)
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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: Cell phones
ME: Nexus between cell phone and crime can be inferred from totality of affidavit
Probable cause was shown for nexus between defendant’s cell phone and a multi-person burglary ring. While the affidavit didn’t explicitly state that the conspirators would communicate by cell phone before the burglary, it was a reasonable inference on the totality. … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Compelled use of fingerprint to open cell phone not testimonial
The court at first declined to sign a search warrant for a cell phone that compelled use of a fingerprint to unlock it. After further submissions from the USAO and the FPD as invited amicus, the court concludes that a … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Six month delay in searching cell phone wasn’t unreasonable considering how busy the officer was, which the government proved
It took nearly six months to search defendant’s cell phone after he consented to it because of other important matters the officer was working on. “The Mitchell court acknowledged that officer workload considerations could justify a delay in seeking a … Continue reading
CA1: Common sense reading of SW and attachment contemplated off-site search
Defendant’s motion to suppress a FISA was properly denied because his Fourth Amendment facial challenge failed given his concession that the emergency provision could be constitutionally applied in some circumstances. Even if the provision had to be narrowly construed, he … Continue reading
MA: Def’s statement was suppressed, and that led to suppression of phone and CSLI for lack of nexus
Defendant’s cell phone search was based on a statement in violation of Miranda, and it must be suppressed. When the affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s CSLI has the information removed that was the product of that search, there … Continue reading
CA9: Riley no basis for successor habeas
A successor habeas isn’t a way to raise a Riley cell phone search claim. Young v. Pfeiffer, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 23923 (9th Cir. Aug. 22, 2019). There was reasonable suspicion to continue the detention from unusual nervousness, inconsistent stories … Continue reading
CA9: A manual border search of a cell phone doesn’t require RS, but a forensic search does
A manual border search of a cell phone doesn’t require reasonable suspicion. A forensic search, however, requires reasonable suspicion. United States v. Cano, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 24457 (9th Cir. Aug. 22, 2019). Summary by the court:
CA6: District Court’s limited record prevents finding cell phone search was reasonable or inevitable discovery or GFE applied
Defendant was found passed out in a car. Defendant’s cell phone was seized as evidence, apparently of how he almost OD’d. An accidental glimpse at defendant’s phone revealed a thumbnail of potential child pornography. The district court applied the wrong … Continue reading
TX14: Exigency permitted seizure of cell phone where officer thought def was deleting things from it anticipating its search
The officer was justified in seizing defendant’s cell phone when there was probable cause and it appeared that defendant might be deleting things from it. Also, no great detail required to identify a cell phone for a search warrant. Gutierrez … Continue reading
MT: Overseizure of contents of cell phone didn’t prejudice def where the overseized information was not offered at trial
Defendant argued that the search of his cell phone violated the Fourth Amendment because more was seized than the warrant allowed. Since none of the excess was offered by the state, he wasn’t prejudiced, and the over seizure didn’t void … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Lack of standing cuts off a Franks challenge
Defendant lacked standing in the place searched, so he’s denied a Franks hearing to challenge that omission from the affidavit for search warrant. “The only connection between Defendant and 10 H Hall Manor reflected in the Affidavit of Probable Cause … Continue reading
Wired: Hackers Could Decrypt Your GSM Phone Calls
Wired: Hackers Could Decrypt Your GSM Phone Calls by Lily Hay Newman: Most mobile calls around the world are made over the Global System for Mobile Communications standard; in the US, GSM underpins any call made over AT&T or T-Mobile’s … Continue reading
CA8: Parole search of cell phone was reasonable
Defendant was on supervised release in Minnesota as a result of a state conviction. His cell phone was subject to search on reasonable suspicion, and Riley does not bar a parole or probation search of a cell phone. Moreover, his … Continue reading
CA4: Def’s unlocking cell phone without sharing passcode was not communicative act
The officer who had defendant’s cell phone asked her to unlock it. She entered the passcode without sharing it or him seeing her do it. It wasn’t a communicative act. It’s like providing a key. Her motion to suppress the … Continue reading
MA: An unreasonable and overlong detention of the car is also one of the passengers
The mere fact the car was rented provided no indication to the officer that the defendant wasn’t permitted to drive it, thus no reasonable suspicion from that. Thus, the stop was unreasonably extended without reasonable suspicion. When the detention is … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Def can be forced to use finger on Touch ID feature to open phone
The USMJ denied an order to compel the target to use the “Touch ID” feature of his cell phone to open it. On appeal to the USDJ, surveying the cases, the court orders the target to use his finger because … Continue reading
Lawyer’s false affidavit in disciplinary investigation apparently leads to SW for his cell phone and ultimate disbarment
Respondent is a lawyer accused of (aggressively) pursuing a sexual relationship with a divorce client during the representation and succeeding. When it came out, the state bar opened an inquiry. The lawyer filed an affidavit flatly denying any inappropriate conduct … Continue reading
WSJ: Prosecutors Back Barr’s Call for Access to Encrypted Devices
WSJ: Prosecutors Back Barr’s Call for Access to Encrypted Devices by James Rundle: U.S. attorneys from New York say law-enforcement authorities need access to encrypted communications to catch criminals