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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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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)
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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
D.Kan.: Standard govt cell phone search protocol violates particularity requirement and results in a general search
And it begins: What is the scope of Riley? When I was interviewed by the NYT last week about Riley, I mentioned that particularity was going to be the next real issue in cell phone searches, but that didn’t end … Continue reading
ACLU: STINGRAYS: The Most Common Surveillance Tool the Government Won’t Tell You About (Download)
ACLU of No. Cal.: STINGRAYS: The Most Common Surveillance Tool the Government Won’t Tell You About Download: Stingrays: The Most Common Surveillance Tool the Government Won’t Tell You About: Federal and state law enforcement entities across the country are using … Continue reading
DE: Out of possession landlord had no expectation of privacy in his rental property
“As an out of possession landlord and–subsequently–a former landlord, Mr. Walker would not have any expectation of privacy in any rental property he owned. That expectation of privacy would belong to the tenants at 637 Clymer Street. Further, Mr. Walker … Continue reading
WaPo: How accurate are historical cell-site records?
WaPo: How accurate are historical cell-site records? by Orin Kerr: Not very accurate, says Douglas Starr over at The New Yorker. An excerpt: If I make a cell call from Kenmore Square, in my home town of Boston, you might … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: The day after Riley, Davis GFE saves a warrantless cell phone search despite no controlling case; this is just wrong
In February, the USMJ found the warrantless search of defendant’s cell phone unreasonable, but in Davis good faith [despite the lack of controlling law in support?]. The day after Riley, the USDJ finds that the search of a cell phone … Continue reading
Politico: Phone ruling resonates in NSA fight
Politico: Phone ruling resonates in NSA fight by Josh Gerstein: The ruling could also give a boost to lawsuits challenging the NSA’s collection of phone call data.
LawFare: A Failure of Protocol
LawFare: A Failure of Protocol by Tim Edgar: The Supreme Court’s decision requiring a warrant for searches of cell phones incident to arrest affirms that we are entitled to privacy in the digital age. These expectations, the Chief Justice explains, … Continue reading
ScotusBlog: Symposium: The Court starts to catch up with technology
ScotusBlog: Symposium: The Court starts to catch up with technology by Mason C. Clutter: Some thought the Supreme Court in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, the two cellphone searches incident to arrest cases this Term, would split … Continue reading
News stories about Riley thus far (updated)
NYT: Major Ruling Shields Privacy of Cellphones NYT: The Supreme Court Justices Have Cellphones, Too NYT: Cellphone Ruling Could Alter Police Methods, Experts Say WaPo: Supreme Court says police must get warrants for most cellphone searches WaPo: Volokh: The Significance … Continue reading
SCOTUS: A search warrant is required for a cell phone; generally no search incident
Riley v. California: A search warrant is generally required for search of a cell phone. The search incident justifications do not apply to the wealth of personal information that likely will be there. Riley v. California, 2014 U.S. LEXIS 4497, … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: “Cell phones and firearms are generally considered the ‘tools of the trade’ of drug traffickers”
“Cell phones and firearms are generally considered the ‘tools of the trade’ of drug traffickers, which the involved detectives fully understood and conveyed to the magistrate judge. … United States v. Jones, Cr. 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54575 (E.D. Pa. … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: SW for entire contents of cell phone was not overbroad in a drug case
A search warrant that was specific but covered virtually the entire contents of a cell phone was not overbroad where the phone was alleged to be used in drug dealing because it would all be potential evidence. The good faith … Continue reading
RI: No reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages sent to and on another’s telephone
Defendant has no standing to challenge the [consent] search of a cell phone of another person even though that cell phone was in his place where he would otherwise have a reasonable expectation of privacy. This case started with a … Continue reading
Four SCOTUS opinion days left this Term: today, 25th, 26th, 30th–cell phone warrant cases still pending
SCOTUS has four opinion days left this Term. And, of course, still pending are the two cell phone search cases argued April 29th: Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie. They are highly significant privacy cases, and certainly all … Continue reading
WWAY ABC Wilmington: Investigation claims WPD uses spy gear to snoop on citizens
WWAY ABC Wilmington: Investigation claims WPD uses spy gear to snoop on citizens: Is the Wilmington Police Department using spy gear to trick your cell phone into giving away private info? That’s what the ACLU and New Hanover County’s Public … Continue reading
WaPo: The Eleventh Circuit’s novel approach to the Fourth Amendment in the Davis case
WaPo: The Eleventh Circuit’s novel approach to the Fourth Amendment in the Davis case by Orin Kerr: I’ve been thinking more about the Eleventh Circuit’s decision last week in United States v. Quartavious Davis holding that the Fourth Amendment protects … Continue reading
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and regional variation
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and regional variation by Orin Kerr: The recent circuit split between the Fifth Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit over collecting cell-site records without a warrant prompts an interesting question about how Fourth Amendment doctrine responds to … Continue reading
AntiWar.com: Your Local Police May Be Collecting Metadata
AntiWar.com: Your Local Police May Be Collecting Metadata by Lucy Steigerwald: When talking of freewheeling domestic spying, it would behoove us to remember that it’s not just the National Security Agency (NSA) that needs reform and a tight leash. Hell, … Continue reading
AP: US pushing local police departments to keep quiet on cell-phone surveillance technology
AP: US pushing local police departments to keep quiet on cell-phone surveillance technology by Jack Gillum and Eileen Sullivan: The Obama administration has been quietly advising local police not to disclose details about surveillance technology they are using to sweep … Continue reading
CA11: In a case of first impression, “cell site location information is within the subscriber’s reasonable expectation of privacy.”
In an interesting and thorough analysis, the Eleventh Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit sitting by designation, “hold[s] that cell site location information is within the subscriber’s reasonable expectation of privacy.” The court also discussed, … Continue reading