Archives
-
Recent Posts
- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
- D.N.M.: Shared driveway outside of fence and gate was not curtilage
- CA6: Knowing passcode to cell phone shows common authority over it to consent
- VI: Smell of MJ no longer PC in VI since legalization
- Reason: 3 Charlotte Cops Resign After Group Chat Reveals Competition To Arrest the Most Black People
-
Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
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)
-
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
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] -
“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: Arrest or entry on arrest
D.Ore.: TRO granted against arrests in Portland of journalists and legal observers without PC
TRO granted in Portland protests against arrests of journalists and legal observers without probable cause. Index Newspapers LLC v. City of Portland, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131672 (D. Ore. July 23, 2020):
W.D.Mo.: No const’l distinction between jailer monitoring jail calls and turning them over to prosecutors
There is no constitutional distinction between a jailer listening to calls and then forwarding them to prosecutors for use as potential evidence. United States v. Nesbitt, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131220 (W.D. Mo. July 24, 2020). Officer’s statement that a … Continue reading
WaPo: The federal police in Portland don’t even understand what ‘arrests’ are
WaPo: The federal police in Portland don’t even understand what ‘arrests’ are by Prof. By Andrew Manuel Crespo (“The government cannot lawfully exercise its power of arrest if it doesn’t realize it is, in fact, arresting people in the first … Continue reading
CA7: Unreasonable administrative delay in releasing pretrial detainees entitled to release violates 4A
Unreasonable administrative delay in getting people out of jail that are entitled to it violates the Fourth Amendment under Gerstein and County of Riverside. Williams v. Dart, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 23132 (7th Cir. July 23, 2020):
Law and Crime: Two DHS Officials Apparently Just Admitted Their Troops Have Been Violating the Constitution
Law and Crime: Two DHS Officials Apparently Just Admitted Their Troops Have Been Violating the Constitution by Colin Kalmbacher (“Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf and one of his subordinates appear to have admitted their agents have … Continue reading
CA8: Mistake of name in SW affidavit deleted by district court wasn’t material
The affidavit for search warrant here originally used the name “Aaren” but the officer found “Taylor” could be the last name, and the affidavit was changed for that. It turned out that there were two people. The district court properly … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Def’s arrest at door in underwear permitted protective sweep before getting his clothes
Defendant was arrested in his house on a cold and dreary day. He answered the door in his underwear. Officers were permitted to conduct a protective sweep before getting his clothing for transport because at least one other person expected … Continue reading
Rolling Stone: How Oregon Is Pushing Back Against ‘Kidnap and False Arrest’ by Trump’s Agents
Rolling Stone: How Oregon Is Pushing Back Against ‘Kidnap and False Arrest’ by Trump’s Agents by Tim Dickinson (“As state decries constitutional abuses by federal officers, Trump threatens to impose tactics nationally”)
Mother Jones: Trump Plans to Expand Federal Invasion of American Cities
Mother Jones: Trump Plans to Expand Federal Invasion of American Cities (“‘You’ll see something rolled out this week,’ chief of staff says.”) Update: ABAJ: Oregon sues US agencies over protest arrests; what gave feds authority to intervene? by Debra Cassens … Continue reading
CNN: US attorney requests DHS investigation after video shows masked, camouflaged federal authorities arresting protesters in Portland
CNN: US attorney requests DHS investigation after video shows masked, camouflaged federal authorities arresting protesters in Portland by Amir Vera, Konstantin Toropin & Josh Campbell (“The US Attorney for the Oregon District on Friday requested an investigation into masked, camouflaged … Continue reading
Oregon Public Broadcasting: Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets
OPB: Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets by Jonathan Levinson & Conrad Wilson:
DC: Entry on arrest warrant was limited to protective sweep, but here it was a full search
U.S. Marshals entered defendant’s home on an arrest warrant and, instead of just securing it, they succeeded in searching it, too. The search violated the Fourth Amendment and is suppressed. Green v. United States, 2020 D.C. App. LEXIS 240 (July … Continue reading
IN: Def’s sitting inside in front of open door visible outside had reduced REP compared to exigency for his arrest
Defendant’s door was wide open, and officers could see him sitting inside directly in front of the door. They had an arrest warrant for him. Based on the “particular facts” here, officers had exigency combined with defendant’s reasonable expectation of … Continue reading
CA6: When target of an IRS summons is named, it’s not a “John Doe summons”
“There is no shortage of reasons to reject Byers’s argument. But her argument, we acknowledge, has intuitive appeal—‘Shouldn’t the government have to give a reason why it wants my information?’—and merits this fulsome response. In all, Byers has raised a … Continue reading
Cal.1: Despite the pandemic, arrestees are entitled to a prompt judicial determination of PC
Despite the pandemic and court closures, arrestees are entitled to a prompt judicial determination of probable cause under Gerstein. Bullock v. Superior Court, 2020 Cal. App. LEXIS 575 (1st Dist. June 24, 2020). During a search of defendant’s house under … Continue reading
OH9: Def’s observed association with wanted fugitive permitted his seizure at time of fugitive’s arrest, too.
Defendant was in a car wash and the USM fugitive task force was tailing a person in another car at the car wash. That person came over to defendant’s car and spoke to him. When the person being surveilled started … Continue reading
NY: CBP officer at least was conducting a citizen’s arrest when he stopped def and turned him over to local police
A CBP maritime officer is not a LEO under NYS law but that didn’t void his stopping a vehicle while on duty in Buffalo for driving erratically. Buffalo officers were called, and he left to go back to work. They … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: “After editing out the incomplete and false portions of the warrant affidavit, the remaining information was insufficient to establish” PC
“After editing out the incomplete and false portions of the warrant affidavit, the remaining information was insufficient to establish that Green was dead and that his death was caused by the criminal act of another person. Accordingly, the Court finds … Continue reading
OH5: Trial court’s finding of officer’s credibility where dashcam didn’t help was binding on appeal
The dashcam video was inconclusive on whether defendant stopped, but the trial court credited the officer, and that’s binding on the court of appeals. State v. Blasingame, 2020-Ohio-3087, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 2029 (5th Dist. May 21, 2020).* Two dashcam … Continue reading