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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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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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)
ACLU on privacy
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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) -
“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: State constitution
OR: Officer pulled into gas station behind defendant and made him talk, thereby making it a stop
Defendant pulled into a gas station, gassed up, and bought a drink. When he came out, a police car was parked behind him, and the officer required him to talk about the reason for the “stop.” This became a stop … Continue reading
PA decision that CI’s recording inside a house required a warrant affirmed by equally divided court
In 2013, Pennsylvania Superior Court held that the state constitution prohibits warrantless taping inside a suspect’s home with a video camera planted on an informant. Commonwealth v. Dunnavant, 2013 PA Super 38, 63 A.3d 1252 (2013) (posted here). That decision … Continue reading
Bloomberg: In Rare State Move, Wyoming May Add Individual Right to Privacy to Constitution
Bloomberg: In Rare State Move, Wyoming May Add Individual Right to Privacy to Constitution by Tripp Baltz: Dec. 18 — Other states may want to follow Wyoming lawmakers, who in early 2015 will consider a proposed constitutional amendment (15LSO-0066) that … Continue reading
MA: Arrest on recalled warrant suppressed under state const. where officers violated policy and didn’t recheck
Product of an arrest on a recently recalled warrant suppressed under the state constitution. The police had plenty of time to check the status of the warrant during the hours of surveillance looking for defendant and waiting for him to … Continue reading
Cal.1: Taking DNA from an arrestee violates the California Constitution; Maryland v. King distinguished
California’s Constitution and DNA statute is different than Maryland’s in Maryland v. King so taking DNA from an arrestee is unconstitutional. People v. Buza, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 1100 (1st Dist. December 3, 2014):
IN: “No Trespassing” sign and cable across driveway defined curtilage under state constitution; entry required warrant
“No Trespassing” signs used to be not determinative of curtilage. It’s apparent they are becoming so. Here, the defendant had a cable across the driveway, a “No Trespassing” sign, and a surveillance camera. The police were not in hot pursuit … Continue reading
IA: Iowa requires a search warrant for a probation search
Iowa requires a search warrant for a probation search. State v. Sacco, 2014 Iowa App. LEXIS 945 (October 1, 2014): The State asserts the legality of the search at issue here is “controlled by Griffin.” In regard only to Sacco’s … Continue reading
IN still doesn’t recognize the attenuation doctrine
The attenuation doctrine does not apply to violations of the Indiana Constitution. Admittedly, the search of defendant’s vehicle was unlawful, and a receipt found was followed back to video of the transaction. Indiana hasn’t yet adopted inevitable discovery under the … Continue reading
TN: Arrival of a police squad with arrest warrants was a “seizure” despite defendant’s flight
Several police cars from Knoxville PD pulled up at a house with arrest warrants for people known to hang out there. Defendant saw them and fled and was pursued. The arrival of that many police was a “seizure” under the … Continue reading
IN: Refuses to find any reasonable expectation of privacy in telephone records under state constitution
Defendant didn’t pursue an interlocutory appeal of his suppression motion on telephone records being seized in violation of the state constitution. Therefore, he waived it by objecting at trial. Nevertheless, the court finds that he would lose on the state … Continue reading
IA rejects SCOTUS probation and parole search exception on state constitution
On state constitutional grounds, Iowa refuses to follow SCOTUS on probation and parole searches. A search warrant is required without consent. “For the above reasons, we think Cullison remains good law. We decline to overrule it. The United States Supreme … Continue reading
VT: Pre-conviction DNA testing of arrestees after arraignment violates the search provision of state constitution
In a comprehensive opinion, the Vermont Supreme Court held Friday that pre-conviction DNA testing of arrestees after arraignment violates the search provision of the Vermont Constitution. It failed every point of analysis. State v. Medina, 2014 VT 69, 2014 Vt. … Continue reading
OR: Ordering defendant out of his house for an FST was a “stop” and detention as a show of authority
Ordering defendant out of his house for a FST was a “stop” and detention under the state constitution because it was a show of authority. State v. Charles, 263 Or. App. ___, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 804 (June 18, 2014). … Continue reading
Cal.2d: State pharmacy controlled substance database doesn’t violate patients’ privacy rights
A patient does not have a substantial enough state constitutional privacy right to overcome the public interest in making prescription controlled substances records inspections at pharmacies. Pharmacies are highly regulated, and there are sufficient other general protections of patient information. … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: A line by line dissection of a search warrant affidavit is inappropriate
A line by line dissection of a search warrant affidavit is inappropriate; what does it say as a whole with a common sense reading. “Brummett’s interpretation strains linguistic reality.” It was not so lacking in probable cause that the exclusionary … Continue reading
PA declines to have broader state constitutional rights under the automobile exception
Pennsylvania declines to have broader state constitutional rights under the automobile exception. (No sign it was going to before.) Commonwealth v. Gary, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 1119 (April 29, 2014) (concurrence; dissent):