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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)
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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
CO: Cell phone was searched first without a warrant then with; remanded for determination whether independent source rule applies
Defendant’s cell phone was searched without a warrant, and Riley applies. Whether the later search warrant for the cell phone was valid via the independent source rule has inadequate findings, so the case is remanded for further findings. People v. … Continue reading
WSJ Law Blog: FBI Director ‘Concerned’ About New Smartphone Encryption
WSJ Law Blog: FBI Director ‘Concerned’ About New Smartphone Encryption by Jacob Gershman: FBI Director James Comey on Thursday said he’s bothered by moves by Apple Inc. and Google Inc. to market privacy innovations on smartphones that put some data … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh: Julian Sanchez on encryption, law enforcement, and the balance of power
WaPo: Volokh: Julian Sanchez on encryption, law enforcement, and the balance of power by Orin Kerr: Over at Cato at Liberty, Julian Sanchez has an excellent post criticizing and responding to my three posts on encryption and the new Apple … Continue reading
KY: Cell phone was “pinged” because of missing kids but they were found; def’s location to arrest not suppressed
Defendant’s children were missing and his wife was murdered, and he was a suspect. Police got an exigent circumstances “ping” authority for 48 hours on his phone under the SCA. 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b-c). The phone was off and the … Continue reading
Lawfare: The Encryption Wars Continue
Lawfare: The Encryption Wars Continue by Paul Rosenzweig: For quite a while it has been the case that properly implemented encryption will defeat efforts to crack it (at least using current technology). Yet it has been the case for an … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh: Apple’s dangerous game
WaPo: Volokh: Apple’s dangerous game by Orin Kerr: Apple has announced that it has designed its new operating system, iOS8, to thwart lawful search warrants. Under Apple’s old operating system, if an iPhone is protected by a passcode that the … Continue reading
Law.com: Apple’s Privacy Policy May Not Prove Unassailable
Law.com: Apple’s Privacy Policy May Not Prove Unassailable by Andrew Ramonos: Apple Inc.’s new privacy policy won’t stop law enforcement officers determined to view encrypted data on iPhones and iPads, according to privacy attorneys. But it will impose additional burdens.
D.Kan.: Just because cell site location data is “less than perfect” doesn’t mean it can’t be sought
Just because cell site location data is “less than perfect” doesn’t mean that the government can’t collect it with a proper application then attempt to use it at a trial. Also, the court concludes that the Tenth Circuit wouldn’t likely … Continue reading
The Hill: Apple: New iPhones can’t be unlocked – even with a warrant
The Hill: Apple: New iPhones can’t be unlocked – even with a warrant by Julian Hattem: Apple says iOS 8 will protect users’ data from the government, and even from Apple itself. The company announced in a privacy policy late … Continue reading
WaPo: Tech firm tries to pull back curtain on surveillance efforts in Washington
WaPo: Tech firm tries to pull back curtain on surveillance efforts in Washington by Ashkan Soltani and Craig Timberg: As a black sedan pulled into downtown Washington traffic earlier this week, a man in the back seat with a specially … Continue reading
Cal.2: Pre-Riley cell phone search incident expressly authorized by case law so Davis GFE applies
The pre-Riley search of defendant’s cell phone was expressly permitted by California case law at the time of the search, so the good faith exception applies. People v. Macabeo, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 793 (2d Dist. September 3, 2014). Based … Continue reading
TX4 follows Fifth Circuit and TX14: Search warrant not required for CSLI
TX4 follows Fifth Circuit and TX14: Search warrant not required for CSLI. It is information kept by the phone provider and voluntarily disclosed to it by the use of the cell phone. Ford v. State, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 9159 … Continue reading
NE: SW not needed for cell phone call records
Defendant’s cell phone call records were obtained by subpoena. This is governed by Smith v. Maryland, and not by any of the cases involving search warrants for the contents of cell phones. [Riley not cited because case arose pre-Riley.] Big … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: 2012 download of cell phone two hours after arrest not search incident; Davis inapplicable
Two defendants, two cell phones searched in March 2012. One on parole, one not. The parole search of the cell phone is valid. The other, however, wasn’t a search incident of the cell phone; it was downloaded two hours after … Continue reading
Stop The Drug War: Will Supreme Court Cell Phone Search Ruling Apply Retroactively?
Stop The Drug War: Will Supreme Court Cell Phone Search Ruling Apply Retroactively? by Clarence Walker. Since so many federal cases held that the search incident doctrine applied until Wurie, Davis good faith pretty much seals the fate of that … Continue reading
FL3: SI of defendant’s cell phone in 2011 already violated established law in Florida
The search incident of defendant’s cell phone was in violation of settled law in Florida at the time it happened in 2011, and the search is suppressed. Saint-Hilaire v. State, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 12039 (Fla. 3d DCA August 6, … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Good faith exception applies to applications for CSLI
The good faith exception applies to applications for CSLI. United States v. Corona, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106398 (D. Neb. June 23, 2014): Notwithstanding the sufficiency of the search warrant issued by Judge Gossett, or any theoretical ramifications behind distinguishing … Continue reading
D.Colo.: Photo of property in SW application cures address typo
A typo in the address, 1557 v. 1577, was not material where the application for the search warrant had a photograph of the property involved. United States v. Padilla, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104023 (D. Colo. July 30, 2014). Exigent … Continue reading