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- N.D.Tex.: AUSA can summarize what the gov’t knows for SW application
- S.D.N.Y.: No right to quash SCA warrant before execution; remedies are after
- S.D.N.Y.: SW not based on mere speculation
- D.Mont.: Officers had RS for stop; it wasn’t based on the race of the suspects
- M.D.Pa.: SW for phone 19 months after alleged crimes showed PC
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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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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: Cell phones
404 Media: Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media: Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods by Joseph Cox (“A social media and phone surveillance system ICE bought access to is designed to monitor a city neighborhood or block for mobile phones, track the movements … Continue reading
CA9: In school seizure of plaintiff’s cell phone for 30 minutes was not unreasonable
In school seizure of plaintiff’s cell phone for 30 minutes was not unreasonable and “not excessively intrusive.” McGuire v. Roseville Joint Union High Sch. Dist., 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 172 (9th Cir. Jan. 6, 2026). “Valdivia counters that [the officer’s] … Continue reading
MA: Facebook selfie supported SW for def’s cell phone
A Facebook photo that appeared to be a selfie on defendant’s Facebook account wearing the shirt witnesses to the shooting describe supported a search warrant for defendant’s cell phone. Commonwealth v. Carleton, 2026 Mass. LEXIS 1 (Jan. 5, 2026). Plaintiff … Continue reading
CA10: Protective sweep of car was valid despite presence of six officers; def would get back in car
There was reasonable suspicion enough potential for dangerousness for a protective sweep of defendant’s car. “The district court’s dangerousness analysis relied on four factors: (1) Raban’s gang affiliation, (2) the high-crime and rival-gang neighborhood, (3) Armstrong’s presence, and (4) Raban’s … Continue reading
MI: Officer seeing def drunk an hour before he was driving was a reasonable conclusion
The district court erred in suppressing by finding no probable cause for a stop. “Because we conclude that Officer Prater’s observations of defendant in a drunken state no more than one hour before the stop furnished the officer with reasonable … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Easily entered iPhone moots how passcode was obtained
Even if the passcode was obtained unreasonably, this iPhone would have been gotten into anyway. The officer had done it before on these earlier models, and that’s inevitable discovery. United States v. Fassero, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 265273 (C.D. Ill. … Continue reading
CA9: Taking too long to get SW for phone violated clearly established law
The officer here violated clearly established law by taking too long to apply for a warrant to search plaintiff’s cell phone. Plaintiff promptly sought its return, but that was denied because the officer hadn’t got a warrant yet. Langham v. … Continue reading
NC: No standing in someone else’s cell phone pinged to find defendant
Defendant used someone else’s cell phone and officers pinged it to find him. He had no standing for the borrowed phone. After arrest, he admitted the shooting in a jail call. “Defendant’s temporary use of the phone does not automatically … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Cell phone can’t be seized on RS and exigency then wait four days to get a SW
“The question before this Court today is whether a police officer who conducts a Terry stop can seize the smartphone of a suspect without a warrant and hold it for four days before obtaining a warrant, where the suggested exigency … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: PC was shown for cell phone data for particular number and any number switched to, if provider knows it
Probable cause was shown for phone records for both the number sought and any number the provider knew that the owner had changed to, even without identifying it. And, good faith applied: “Therefore, even if the continuity provision within the … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Putting iPhone in airplane mode was reasonable, even if it was a search
Even if the officer putting defendant’s cell phone in airplane mode to protect the contents was a search, it was reasonable. Also, it yielded no evidence to suppress. United States v. Schroeder, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 256464 (E.D. Wis. Dec. … Continue reading
Reason: CBP Agents Held This U.S. Citizen for Hours Until He Agreed To Let Them Search His Electronic Devices
Reason: CBP Agents Held This U.S. Citizen for Hours Until He Agreed To Let Them Search His Electronic Devices by Jacob Sullum (“A federal lawsuit argues that the agency’s policy of perusing travelers’ personal data without a warrant or probable … Continue reading
AR: Defendant claiming they were searching her place was sufficient for probation search waiver
The premises was subject to defendant’s search waiver on file. At court she disputed the state proved it was her place, but, at the time of the search, she and a friend said that it was her place. Inside, her … Continue reading
D.D.C.: 1/6 pardonee doesn’t state claim under FTCA for having to go to trial
Plaintiff has a 1/6 pardon. She sued over things the government did to obtain her conviction. She fails to state a claim under the FTCA for alleged disclosure of private information during the trial. “Although the FTCA waives the United … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Neither RS nor PC required for electronics search at border
Neither reasonable suspicion or probable cause is required for a border search of electronic equipment. Here, it was at Newark airport. United States v. Bill, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 234680 (E.D. Mo. Dec. 2, 2025). Defendant who had 19 prior … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Use of biometrics to access a cell phone is not testimonial
The use of biometrics to access a cell phone is not testimonial. United States v. Blythe, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 231852 (D.D.C. Nov. 23, 2025) (interesting read). Just because defense counsel didn’t appeal a losing Fourth Amendment issue doesn’t make … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Seeing handgun reasonably led to handcuffing to see if def had permit on him
Officers suspected defendant was carrying a weapon, and they saw it as they approached. Under state law, he had to have the permit on him. “So, were the officers’ following actions (handcuffing Pettes and putting him in the squad car) … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: SW for cell phone at border after warrantless search was reasonable
CBP seized and searched defendant’s cell phones at the border under existing authority. After subsequent case law called that into question, the government sought a search warrant for the phones disclosing all the facts. The subsequent warrant was valid. United … Continue reading
Wired: CBP Searched a Record Number of Phones at the US Border Over the Past Year
Wired: CBP Searched a Record Number of Phones at the US Border Over the Past Year by Matt Burgess & Dell Cameron (“The total number of US Customs and Border Protection device searches jumped by 17 percent over the 2024 … Continue reading