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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)
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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
New law review article on drones as “searches”
Joel Celso, Comment: Droning on about the Fourth Amendment: Adopting a Reasonable Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence to Prevent Unreasonable Searches by Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 43 U. Balt. L. Rev. 461 (2014). Introduction:
LAT: LAPD want to crack down on civilian drones after police station incident
LAT: LAPD want to crack down on civilian drones after police station incident: Los Angeles police officials say they may have to set boundaries on hobbyist drone use because local ordinances are vague and federal regulators are unlikely to put … Continue reading
NYTimes: Drones Outpacing Rules as Popularity Soars in New York
NYTimes: Drones Outpacing Rules as Popularity Soars in New York by James Barron: Not long ago, drones were a relatively rare sight over New York City, usually piloted by photographers. But now drones are soaring as never before, deployed more … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Grounding Drones: Big Brother’s Tool Box Needs Regulation Not Elimination
Grounding Drones: Big Brother’s Tool Box Needs Regulation Not Elimination, Melanie Reid, 20 Rich. J.L. & Tech. 9 (2014). Abstract:
Motherboard: Do the FBI’s Drones Invade Your Privacy? Sorry, That’s Private
Motherboard: Do the FBI’s Drones Invade Your Privacy? Sorry, That’s Private by Shawn Musgrave: Federal law requires the FBI to assess its own surveillance technologies for potential privacy and civil liberties snags. While these technology assessments are typically prepared for … Continue reading
Politico: President Barack Obama to issue executive order on drone privacy
Politico: President Barack Obama to issue executive order on drone privacy by Erin Mershon and Kevin Robillard: President Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order to develop privacy guidelines for commercial drones operating in U.S. airspace, POLITICO has learned.
BLT: Lawyers, Hobbyists Bemoan New Drone Rules
BLT: Lawyers, Hobbyists Bemoan New Drone Rules by Jimmy Hoover: Entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos looking to incorporate drones into their business practices will have to wait a little longer, according to a proposed rule from the Federal Aviation Administration about … Continue reading
LAT: LAPD’s two drones under lock-and-key by feds until rules in place
LAT: LAPD’s two drones under lock-and-key by feds until rules in place by Joseph Serna: The move to hand them over to the Department of Homeland Security was a response to public perception and strict federal laws on how law … Continue reading
KIRO (CBS Seattle): Woman calls police to report drone ‘spying’ outside Seattle apartment / Peeping Tom by drone
KIRO (CBS Seattle): Woman calls police to report drone ‘spying’ outside Seattle apartment by Joanna Small: A woman called police to report a Peeping Tom, but not the traditional kind. She says a drone was looking into her downtown Seattle … Continue reading
LAT: FAA restricts drone and model aircraft within 5 miles of airports
LAT: FAA restricts drone and model aircraft within 5 miles of airports by Matt Pierce: The Federal Aviation Administration restricted the unauthorized use of model aircraft and small drones near airports in a new interpretation of existing federal rules that … Continue reading
CNN to study drone use for reporting
CNN to study drone use for reporting by Brian Stetler: Seeking to speed up government rule-making about the use of drones in newsgathering, CNN and the Georgia Institute of Technology said Monday that they would jointly study how to operate … Continue reading
LAT: As hobby drone use increases, so do concerns about privacy, security
LAT: As hobby drone use increases, so do concerns about privacy, security by Joseph Serna: Drone use is becoming an issue as the unmanned aircraft become more popular, especially as a way for hobbyists to create videos. YouTube is filled … Continue reading
ABC News: Drone Killing Memo Released After NY Court Fight
ABC News: Drone Killing Memo Released After NY Court Fight by Larry Neumeister: A federal appeals court on Monday released a previously secret memo that provided legal justification for using drones to kill Americans suspected of terrorism overseas. The memo … Continue reading
techdirt: City Of Seattle Finds New Police Drones Might Be Too Invasive; Los Angeles Police Say, ‘Hey, We’ll Take Them!’
techdirt: City Of Seattle Finds New Police Drones Might Be Too Invasive; Los Angeles Police Say, ‘Hey, We’ll Take Them!’ by Tim Cushing: Los Angeles law enforcement agencies’ attitude towards surveillance has usually been, ‘sure, why not?’ Whatever L.A. law … Continue reading
WaPo: When drones fall from the sky
WaPo: When drones fall from the sky by Craig Whitlock: Commercial drone flights are set to become a widespread reality in the United States, starting next year, under a 2012 law passed by Congress. Drone flights by law enforcement agencies … Continue reading
Washington Times: States not waiting for feds on drone privacy
Washington Times: States not waiting for feds on drone privacy: The Obama administration is far behind schedule integrating drones into the national airspace and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are struggling to move legislation governing the craft, but a dozen states … Continue reading
MintPress News: NYPD Renews Push For Drones To Help Police The City
MintPress News: NYPD Renews Push For Drones To Help Police The City by Katie Rucke: While unmanned aircraft could offer outstanding benefits to both the NYPD and the city’s fire department, these benefits may not outweigh the concerns of citizens … Continue reading
WaPo: Rand Paul links arms with ACLU vs. drone use
WaPo: Rand Paul links arms with ACLU vs. drone use by Jennifer Rubin: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is facing widespread criticism over his foreign policy views and his zigzagging between eccentric libertarianism and a more mainstream center-right outlook. Yesterday he … Continue reading
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center: NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center aims to be a one-stop source of cutting-edge information on the proliferation of drones inside the United States. It collects news from leading publications across the nation; features a comprehensive … Continue reading