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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)
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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
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
Gnom.es: Weaponized, Peeping Drone Ban Proposed in Congress
Gnom.es: Weaponized, Peeping Drone Ban Proposed in Congress: Legislation to forbid alarming and increasingly not-so-hypothetical uses of unmanned aircraft was introduced in Congress Tuesday. The Preserving American Privacy Act, sponsored by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Ted Poe, R-Texas, would … Continue reading
AP: Michigan State Police officials demonstrate aerial drone
AP: Michigan State Police officials demonstrate aerial drone: Michigan State Police officials have demonstrated the department’s first authorized aerial drone designed to aid in investigations.
Bloomberg: Obama Drone Policy Gives FBI Leeway to Decide What’s Private
Bloomberg: Obama Drone Policy Gives FBI Leeway to Decide What’s Private by Alan Levin: The White House’s attempt to set privacy policies for government agencies using drones doesn’t go far enough for civil-liberties advocates in the U.S….While the White House … Continue reading
WaPo: FAA rules might allow thousands of business drones
WaPo: FAA rules might allow thousands of business drones by Craig Whitlock: Thousands of businesses could receive clearance to fly drones two years from now under proposed rules that the Federal Aviation Administration unveiled Sunday, a landmark step that will … Continue reading
The Hill: Feds to announce commercial drone rules
The Hill: Feds to announce commercial drone rules by Keith Laing The Federal Aviation Administration is planning to announce its rules for non-military drone use in the U.S. on Sunday. The announcement, which has been highly anticipated, will be made … Continue reading
NYTimes Magazine: What Our Paranoia About Drones Says About Us
NYTimes Magazine: What Our Paranoia About Drones Says About Us by Jelani Cobb: The military and the police, the institutions tasked with protecting us from outsiders and from ourselves, still rank as the first- and third-most-trusted groups in this society … Continue reading
National Journal: Few Privacy Limitations Exist on How Police Use Drones
National Journal: Few Privacy Limitations Exist on How Police Use Drones by Kaveh Waddell: Only 14 states require law enforcement get a warrant to use drones for surveillance.
EFF: Secure Our Borders First Act Would Ensure Proliferation of Drones at the Border
EFF: Secure Our Borders First Act Would Ensure Proliferation of Drones at the Border BY Nadia Kayyali: The Secure Our Borders First Act is an ugly piece of legislation that’s clearly intended to strongarm the Department of Homeland Security into … Continue reading