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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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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) -
“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
IA: Breath test of boater was valid as search incident under 4A but not state const.
“[T]he breath test [of a boater] constituted a search incident to arrest excepted from the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement under Birchfield.” State v. Pettijohn, 2017 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 78 (June 30, 2017):
NH: Limited state auto exception recognized where plainly visible contents are contraband
NH recognizes limited state automobile exception under state constitution where a warrant is not required where “the police have probable cause to believe that a plainly visible item in the vehicle is contraband.” State v. Cora, 2017 N.H. LEXIS 132 … Continue reading
ND: Separate state constitutional search argument has to be developed to be considered
Appellant’s “unconstitutional condition” argument under the Fourth Amendment has already been rejected in this case, and the state consitutitonal argument wasn’t developed. Marman v. Levi, 2017 ND 133, 2017 N.D. LEXIS 133 (June 7, 2017).* Defendant’s untimely motion for new … Continue reading
HI imposes triggering condition in anticipatory warrants under state constitution
“We are faced with a question of first impression for this court: Does the Hawai’i Constitution require that an anticipatory search warrant identify the triggering condition on the face of the warrant? In light of the privacy protections contained in … Continue reading
MA: SW required to access def’s text messages under SCA and state const.
The state needed a search warrant to access defendant’s text messages under the SCA and state constitution. Commonwealth v. Fulgiam, 2017 Mass. LEXIS 338 (May 5, 2017). (Massachusetts has already held that CSLI is protected under the state constitution.) “We … Continue reading
MA: Minor deviations from the DUI roadblock plan don’t require suppression
The minor deviations from the plan for the DUI roadblock here don’t require suppression. Commonwealth v. Baker, 2017 Mass. App. LEXIS 53 (May 4, 2017). A citizen informant’s call that defendant had a knife in his back pocket justified a … Continue reading
NY Co.: Taking a “recidivist transit violator” outside the turnstiles was a reasonable detention
Plaintiff was a “recidivist transit violator” stopped for moving between cars. Taking him off the train outside the turnstiles was a reasonable detention under the state constitution. Vargas v. City of New York, 2017 NY Slip Op 27116, 2017 N.Y. … Continue reading
TN finally rejects Aguilar-Spinelli for Gates under state constitution
After rejecting Gates in 1989 and retaining Aguilar-Spinelli as a matter of state constitutional law, Tennessee finally adopts the totality of circumstances test of Gates. State v. Tuttle, 2017 Tenn. LEXIS 190 (April 5, 2017) (see Treatise § 6.36 n.4):
OH6: Because OH limits minor misdemeanor searches more than the 4A, search of def because of marijuana flakes on shirt was unreasonable
Defendant was a passenger in a vehicle stopped for suspicion the driver had a suspended DL because of a computer check. Defendant was made to get out of the vehicle despite being blind. The officer noted marijuana flakes on his … Continue reading
PA holds state constitution requires exclusionary rule applies to parole and probation revocation proceedings
PA holds state constitution requires exclusionary rule applies to parole and probation revocation proceedings. The court engages in a lengthy and sensitive analysis. Commonwealth v. Arter, 2016 Pa. LEXIS 2916 (Dec. 28, 2016):
OR: Adm subpoena was within agency’s power; third party doctrine issue saved for later with better facts
The administrative subpoena issued here by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services was “squarely” within its statutory investigative power of regulating unregistered securities. “Given the factual and legal posture in which this issue arises, we resolve this case … Continue reading
KS: A statute may grant more rights than the 4A and it should be followed
A statute may grant citizens more protection than the Fourth Amendment or the state constitution, and it must be followed. If state law is silent, then the Fourth Amendment or state constitution govern. City of Dodge City v. Webb, 2016 … Continue reading
PA: Exemptions in State’s Right to Know Law are coextensive with state search and seizure provision
Exemptions under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law are at least coextensive with the state’s right to privacy under the constitutional search and seizure provision. Thus, public school teachers’ home addresses should, on balance, remain private and nondisclosable. Pa. State Educ. … Continue reading
OR: State carries burden of proving the reliability of the drug dog in the first instance (under state const.)
“Here, we easily conclude that the state did not create a sufficient record to support the use of Quincy’s alert as a basis for probable cause to search the car. At the suppression hearing, the state elicited testimony from Raiser … Continue reading
CT: City housing admin SW was properly issued; no state constitutional right to adversary proceeding first
City inspectors suspected defendant’s premises to have an illegal third apartment because there were three mailboxes and entrances and other suspicions. He refused an inspection by city officials, so they applied for an administrative search warrant that showed probable cause … Continue reading
HI: Four flyovers of def’s house violated curtilage and REP under state constitution
Four police flyovers of defendant’s house, one at 420′, was not a search under the Fourth Amendment, but it was unreasonable under the Hawai’i Constitution. 20-25 marijuana plants were seen in the flyover. Driving by the residence, however, no plants … Continue reading
MI: No RS required for administrative SW for rental unit inspections once every 3 years
“Appellant city challenges the district court’s denial of its application for an administrative search warrant to conduct a rental-housing inspection [where inspections are only done every three years], arguing that the district court erred in determining that individualized suspicion of … Continue reading
VT: A mere “home visit” of a probationer is reasonable and it does not include a search of the house
A mere “home visit” of a probationer is reasonable and it does not include a search of the house; merely an entry to look. State v. Levitt, 2016 VT 60, 2016 Vt. LEXIS 58 (May 27, 2016):
The Intercept: Seattle’s sanitation workers can no longer pry through trash without a warrant
The Intercept: Seattle’s sanitation workers can no longer pry through trash without a warrant by Cyrus Farivar: A Washington county judge has ruled that the city of Seattle’s warrantless searches of garbage violated the state’s constitution. In her 14-page order, … Continue reading