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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
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Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
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General (many free):
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www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
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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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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) -
“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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Cell phones
W.D.La.: Short delay of a package in the mail for a dog sniff that fit a drug courier profile was not unreasonable
There is no Fourth Amendment interest that a package in the mail is not slightly detained for a dog sniff on reasonable suspicion. [One never knows exactly when a package is going to arrive, except when promised by Amazon, and … Continue reading
GA: Def’s cell phone was seized and downloaded w/o a warrant, but the download wasn’t searched until a SW was obtained; search valid under independent source
Defendant’s cell phone was seized and downloaded, but the download wasn’t searched without a search warrant. The court doesn’t even have to decide whether exigent circumstances permitted the download because the police had seized it lawfully and they have plenty … Continue reading
D.D.C.: BOP employee had no REP in BOP owned work cell phone even though personal information was on it
BOP IG issued an administrative subpoena for respondent to produce her BOP owned cell phone, and she refused claiming a reasonable expectation of privacy in it. First, the standard of review is narrow and limited, and the subpoena is enforceable. … Continue reading
ABAJ: FBI overestimated the number of encrypted phones while arguing for workarounds
ABAJ: FBI overestimated the number of encrypted phones while arguing for workarounds by Jason Tashea:
NYTimes: Apple to Close iPhone Security Hole That Law Enforcement Uses to Crack Devices
NYTimes: Apple to Close iPhone Security Hole That Law Enforcement Uses to Crack Devices by Jack Nicas: Apple has long positioned the iPhone as a secure device that only its owner can open. That has led to battles with law … Continue reading
SC: Of course def didn’t intend to leave his cell phone at the scene of a burglary, but he did, and that’s still abandonment
Defendant lost his cell phone at the scene of a burglary. The court grants the fundamental premise that a cell phone has the “privacies of life,” but his unintentional abandonment of the phone doesn’t preclude the government from searching it … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Declining to interact with an officer is not RS
Defendant’s declining to interact with the officer and trying to avoid him is not reasonable suspicion because people have a right to do that. United States v. Brown, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97602 (N.D. Ga. May 10, 2018). Defendant abandoned … Continue reading
NACDL: Riling Up the Border Search Doctrine: Litigating Searches of Digital Content at Our Ports of Entry
NACDL, The Champion: Riling Up the Border Search Doctrine: Litigating Searches of Digital Content at Our Ports of Entry by Aisha J. Dennis, The Champion 40-46 (Mar. 2018)
S.D.N.Y.: Cell phone search protocol can’t be described in SW in advance
It is difficult for law enforcement officers to describe in the search warrant a protocol for searching electronic data from a cell phone, whether it be a mechanical search or an electronic search. In fact, Cellebrite didn’t work on one … Continue reading
Lawfare: Summary: Circuit Split on Device Searches at the Border in US v. Touset
Lawfare: Summary: Circuit Split on Device Searches at the Border in US v. Touset by Grayson Clary:
PA: 9 month delay between issuance of SW for content of seized cell phone and actual search wasn’t unreasonable where nothing changed
Defendant’s cell phone was seized by consent and a search warrant was obtained for it. It took nine months for the search to occur. Because nothing changed between the seizure, the warrant, and the search, the ultimate search was not … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def’s disclaiming ownership of cell phone when seized is a lack of standing, even when he claimed it after it rang
Defendant had no standing to challenge a search of a cell phone found in his car that he said belonged to his girlfriend. “Jackson does not deny that he disclaimed ownership of the phone at the time it was seized. … Continue reading
Cal.1st: Cell phone probation search condition not unreasonable; def to rid self of gang affiliations
An electronic search condition of probation is not per se unreasonable under Riley. Here, it was reasonable to show whether defendant ridded himself of his gang affiliations which was a condition of probation. People v. Guzman, 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA4: Forensic border search of cell phone “non-routine” but GFE applies
An intensive forensic search of an outbound noncitizen’s cell phone required at least reasonable suspicion and maybe a warrant under Riley. Case law, however, uniformly says not at the time this happened, so the search is valid under the good … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: A cell phone left in an abandoned car is also abandoned
A cell phone left in an abandoned car is also abandoned. United States v. Green, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75738 (E.D. Ky. May 4, 2018). The police had a search warrant for animal fighting for the dogs and papers for … Continue reading
Because Facebook makes people dumb:
Defendant was linked to a carjacking. A search of his cell phone showed a video of him posted live to Facebook of him driving the victim’s car, wearing the victim’s watch, and counting the victim’s Cuban money. The video was … Continue reading
Volokh Conspiracy: Suspect Can Be Compelled to Decrypt Devices If Government Proves He Has The Ability To Do So, Court Rules
United States v. Spencer, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70649 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 26, 2018) Volokh Conspiracy: Suspect Can Be Compelled to Decrypt Devices If Government Proves He Has The Ability To Do So, Court Rules by Orin Kerr: The right … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Riley‘s cell phone SW requirement doesn’t apply to probation searches of a cell phone
Riley does not require a warrant for a probation search of a probationer’s cell phone. United States v. Fletcher, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65591 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 18, 2018). Officers had probable cause to search the trunk of a car … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Court order for cell phone detail information under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) requires only RS
A court order for cell phone detail information under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) requires only reasonable suspicion, following In re Applications of the United States of Am. for an Order Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d), 206 F. Supp. 3d … Continue reading