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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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
HuffPo: CHP Officer Allegedly Steals Nude Photos From DUI Suspect’s Phone
HuffPo: Officer Sean Harrington Allegedly Steals Nude Photos From DUI Suspect’s Phone by Andres Jauregui: A California Highway Patrol officer is under investigation after he allegedly forwarded nude photos of a female suspect to his phone. Officer Sean Harrington, 35, … Continue reading
NPR: Should Police Be Able To Keep Their Devices Secret?
NPR: Should Police Be Able To Keep Their Devices Secret? by Martin Kaste: Officers use ‘StingRays’ to mimic a cell phone tower and intercept information from phones in a whole neighborhood. Versions of the devices have been around for years, … Continue reading
Gizmodo: When Can the Police Search Your Phone and Computer?
Gizmodo: When Can the Police Search Your Phone and Computer? by Hanni Fakhoury and Nadia Kayyali of EFF: Your computer, phone, and other digital devices hold vast amounts of personal information about you and your family. This sensitive data is … Continue reading
NE: Cell phone SW was overbroad for “[a]ny and all information” but still saved by GFE
The state relied at trial on search incident to justify a search of a cell phone, and Riley was decided while the appeal was pending, and it applies. There were no exigent circumstances for a search of the phone. But, … Continue reading
WaPo: Would a new crime of ‘willful refusal to comply with a decryption order’ be the best answer to the device decryption puzzle?
WaPo: Would a new crime of ‘willful refusal to comply with a decryption order’ be the best answer to the device decryption puzzle? by Orin Kerr: FBI Director James Comey is worried that the government won’t be able to decrypt … Continue reading
NY Times: F.B.I. Director Hints at Action as Cellphone Data Is Locked
NY Times: F.B.I. Director Hints at Action as Cellphone Data Is Locked by David E. Sanger and Matt Apuzzo: The director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, said on Thursday that the “post-Snowden pendulum” that has driven Apple and Google … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Riley issue preserved and came down after verdict, but harmless on this record
The motion to suppress a cell phone search under the automobile exception was filed and heard in November before Riley, and defendant was convicted. Before sentencing, Riley came down, and the court asked for briefs. The court concludes the search … Continue reading
FL: Real-time cell site location information is protected under Fourth Amendment
Real-time cell site location information is protected under Fourth Amendment. Tracey v. State, 2014 Fla. LEXIS 3072 (October 16, 2014). This is a fascinating opinion, and it’s the most sensitive review of the issue yet:
N.D.Ill.: Cell site location information was properly obtained by court order
Cell site location information was obtained by court order for defendants’ cell phones to connect them to robberies. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in the location data stored by another and the Stored Communications Act was complied with. … Continue reading
NLJ: Justice Dept. Phone Data Memo to Remain Secret
NLJ: Justice Dept. Phone Data Memo to Remain Secret: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to step into a dispute over public access to a secret U.S. Department of Justice memo about the government’s ability to acquire phone data … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh: Intelligence Squared debate: Mass collection of U.S. phone records violates the Fourth Amendment
WaPo: Volokh: Intelligence Squared debate: Mass collection of U.S. phone records violates the Fourth Amendment by Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz: Intelligence Squared presented an excellent debate last week at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia — “Resolved: Mass collection of U.S. … Continue reading
OR: No privacy interest in a text message in the recipient’s cell phone
One who sends a text message to another cell phone has no privacy in that interest when it’s in the other phone. There is a privacy interest in the content of a telephone call, but not once it’s shared with … Continue reading
CA8: Arguable PC means qualified immunity against false arrest
There was arguable probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest, so the officers get qualified immunity. Trevino v. Benton County, Arkansas, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 19166 (8th Cir. October 8, 2014).* The police obtained separate search warrants for marijuana and a cell … Continue reading
NPR: Apple Says iOS Encryption Protects Privacy; FBI Raises Crime Fears
NPR: Apple Says iOS Encryption Protects Privacy; FBI Raises Crime Fears by Brian Naylor: The FBI says Apple encryption software could make it harder for the police to solve crimes. But Apple CEO Tim Cook disagrees, saying this is about … Continue reading
BBC: Phones held by police remotely wiped
BBC: Phones held by police remotely wiped by Jane Wakefield All the data on some of the tablets and phones seized as evidence is being wiped out, remotely, while they are in police custody, the BBC has learned.
S.D.N.Y.: NYPD warrantlessly searched a camera memory card; govt must brief whether Riley applies
Defendant didn’t show standing to challenge the search of a car that produced some evidence and a digital camera. He was, however, the undisputed owner of a digital camera that the NYPD removed the memory card from and searched without … Continue reading
OH10: Defendant passed out behind the wheel wasn’t stopped since he didn’t know it
“As the officers approached appellant’s car, appellant was passed out and slumped over the driver’s seat. Because appellant was not capable of deciding whether he was free to leave, the officers’ approach to his car cannot be considered a restraint … Continue reading