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- CA7: Jail officials holding plaintiff under a valid court order aren’t liable for not releasing him sooner after a sentencing error
- Volokh: Do Fourth Amendment Protections Change When Property Is Moved?
- M.D.Pa.: Def was neither shipper nor recipient of USPS parcel, so he had no standing in it
- WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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 -
"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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew "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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Drones
WaPo: The FAA is about to require recreational drone registration. Here are the recommended rules.
WaPo: The FAA is about to require recreational drone registration. Here are the recommended rules. by Matt McFarland: A government task force created to recommend registration guidelines for recreational drones wrapped up three days of meetings in Washington Thursday.
The Hill: Blog: Drones are a national security nightmare
The Hill: Blog: Drones are a national security nightmare by Joel D. Joseph: The Federal Aviation Administration is rushing to pass regulations of drones within the next thirty days so that drones can be under your Christmas tree. Frankly, we … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy: Helicopter (and drone?) surveillance and the Fourth Amendment
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy: Helicopter (and drone?) surveillance and the Fourth Amendment by Eugene Volokh: The Supreme Court has held that observing and photographing people’s homes and surrounding areas from an airplane, flying at 1,000 feet, doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment … Continue reading
Wired: Report: Feds Will Require All Drones to Be Registered
Wired: Report: Feds Will Require All Drones to Be Registered by Michael Calore: We should expect the new regulations to be made public Monday, the report says. This will enable the new rules to be put into place before the … Continue reading
The Economist: Welcome to the Drone Age
The Economist: Welcome to the Drone Age Miniature, pilotless aircraft are on the verge of becoming commonplace Some analysts think the number of drones made and sold around the world this year will exceed 1m. In their view, what is … Continue reading
The Hill: Overnight Tech: House to explore drone safety, privacy
The Hill: Overnight Tech: House to explore drone safety, privacy by Mario Trujillo and David McCabe: House lawmakers on Thursday are slated to explore the safety and privacy implications of drones, as the technology becomes increasingly popular in the United … Continue reading
Ars Technica: New law permits North Dakota cop drones to fire beanbag rounds from the sky
Ars Technica: New law permits North Dakota cop drones to fire beanbag rounds from the sky by Cyrus Farivar: To pass new warrant requirement, lawmaker compromised to allow less-than-lethals.
WaPo: FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones
WaPo: FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones By Craig Whitlock: Before last year, close encounters with rogue drones were unheard of. But as a result of a sales boom, small, largely unregulated remote-control aircraft are … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy’ Blog: Man vs. drone, vs. the law
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy’ Blog: Man vs. drone, vs. the law by Eugene Volokh: Perhaps the law should be different, and photographing someone in a public place from a close enough distance should generally be illegal. (Certainly many movie stars beset … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Drone Technology and the Fourth Amendment: Aerial Surveillance Precedent and Kyllo Do Not Account for Current Technology
New Law Review Article: Drone Technology and the Fourth Amendment: Aerial Surveillance Precedent and Kyllo Do Not Account for Current Technology by Veronica E. McKnight, 51 Cal. W. L. Rev. No. 2, Article 4 (2015).
Chicago Sun Times: Editorial: Laws need to catch up with drone technology
Chicago Sun Times: Editorial: Laws need to catch up with drone technology: Do we want somebody firing a gun from a drone in Chicago or elsewhere in Illinois, which is precisely what happened recently in Connecticut? That’s just one of … Continue reading
techdirt: NJ Legislators Want To Ban Drone Photography Of ‘Critical Infrastructure’
techdirt: NJ Legislators Want To Ban Drone Photography Of ‘Critical Infrastructure’: Government paranoia about “critical infrastructure” will now be extended to drone photography, if New Jersey’s proposed legislation is any indication. While law enforcement agencies are still weighing the Fourth … Continue reading
ABC News: Gun-Firing Drone Subject of Federal Investigation
ABC News: Gun-Firing Drone Subject of Federal Investigation by David Kerkly: The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a video showing a handgun being fired from a drone in Connecticut.
ars technica: After drone diverts fire-fighting planes, lawmakers want fines and jail time
ars technica: After drone diverts fire-fighting planes, lawmakers want fines and jail time by Megan Geuss
WSJ: New York Man Acquitted in Drone-Surveillance Case
WSJ: New York Man Acquitted in Drone-Surveillance Case by Jack Nicas: A New York jury acquitted a man charged with using a drone to spy into windows of a doctor’s office, one of the first tests for how existing privacy … Continue reading
The Guardian: Congress warned that drones present ‘a nightmare scenario for civil liberties’
The Guardian: Congress warned that drones present ‘a nightmare scenario for civil liberties’ House committee considering future of US airspace worries about unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) filming football games but silent on law enforcement use
techdirt: DOJ Releases Surveillance Drone Policy, Undercuts Accountability Claims By Exempting It From Use In Court
techdirt: DOJ Releases Surveillance Drone Policy, Undercuts Accountability Claims By Exempting It From Use In Court by Tim Cushing: The FBI won’t tell you how its drone usage affects your privacy. It has withheld every page of its Privacy Impact … Continue reading
Popular Science: What the Justice Department’s New Drone Rules Mean for Your Privacy
Popular Science: What the Justice Department’s New Drone Rules Mean for Your Privacy by Kelsey D. Atherton: More Paper Work for Special Agents, More Privacy for You
AP: Justice Department issues policy on domestic drone use
Justice Department UAS Policy AP: Justice Department issues policy on domestic drone use The Justice Department is acknowledging that the FBI, DEA and other federal law enforcement agencies are likely to make increasing use of unmanned aerial drones in the … Continue reading
WSJ: Privacy Group Sues FAA Over Drone Rules
WSJ: Privacy Group Sues FAA Over Drone Rules: Privacy advocates sued the Federal Aviation Administration for not addressing privacy issues in recent proposed rules for commercial drones, the latest dust-up over how to regulate unmanned aircraft as the devices become … Continue reading