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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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--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, 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: Drones
Pacific Legal Foundation: Drones and property rights
Pacific Legal Foundation: Drones and property rights by Raymond Nhan:
The Atlantic: The Rapid Rise of Federal Surveillance Drones Over America
The Atlantic: The Rapid Rise of Federal Surveillance Drones Over America by Conor Friedersdorf: An alphabet soup’s worth of government agencies are exercising their ability to look down on ordinary citizens.
WWMT: As drones soar in Michigan, so do privacy concerns
WWMT: As drones soar in Michigan, so do privacy concerns by Cody Coombs: The drop in price, along with the improvements made to camera technology have made drones both popular and controversial, especially when it comes to privacy concerns.
AP: Arizona Senate panel OKs statewide rules on drones
AP: Arizona Senate panel OKs statewide rules on drones: New legislation creating a comprehensive state policy on drone use that includes a ban on cities and towns making their own rules was approved Tuesday by an Arizona Senate committee, but … Continue reading
WaPo: You may be powerless to stop a drone from hovering over your own yard
WaPo: You may be powerless to stop a drone from hovering over your own yard by Andrea Peterson and Matt McFarland. The story of a Kentucky man who shot down a drone over his land getting prosecuted and sued in … Continue reading
NYTimes Editorial: Drone Regulations Should Focus on Safety and Privacy
NYTimes Editorial: Drone Regulations Should Focus on Safety and Privacy: Though it would have been inconceivable just a few years ago, among the most popular gifts this past holiday season was the drone. Increasingly coveted by hobbyists and businesses, these … Continue reading
Politico: Drone privacy push could stall out
Politico: Drone privacy push could stall out by Tony Romm: The debate over drones and privacy is just one facet of a broader policy battle surrounding the future of the unmanned craft.
NYTimes: F.A.A. Drone Laws Start to Clash With Stricter Local Rules
NYTimes: F.A.A. Drone Laws Start to Clash With Stricter Local Rules by Cecilia King The F.A.A.’s new stance sets up potential clashes across the country. Local and state lawmakers, concerned about the safety and privacy risks that drones pose, have … Continue reading
TechCrunch: The FAA’s Drone Registration Site Is Now Up And Running
TechCrunch: The FAA’s Drone Registration Site Is Now Up And Running by Frederic Lardinois: As promised, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched its drone registry [yesterday].
WaPo: Here’s how to register your drone with the government
WaPo: Here’s how to register your drone with the government by Matt McFarland: The Federal Aviation Administration offered reporters a preview of its website for drone registration Friday afternoon, detailing what appears to be a straightforward process that should take … Continue reading
The Hill: FAA readies drone registration rules
The Hill: FAA readies drone registration rules by Keith Laing: The task force that was set up by the Federal Aviation Administration to develop a system for drone users to register with the federal government is expected to release its … Continue reading
The Hill: House bill would require warrants for aerial surveillance
The Hill: House bill would require warrants for aerial surveillance by David McCabe: A House bill introduced on Thursday would require federal law enforcement officials to get a warrant if they want to conduct aerial surveillance inside the country.
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