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Recent Posts
- FL3: Cell phone dump in civil case denied; no showing of need
- E.D.Va.: Must plead prejudice when delay of a cell phone SW is alleged
- CA: Avoiding the police in a high crime area isn’t RS
- 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?
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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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Fourth Amendment cases,
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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)
--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 -
"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)
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Category Archives: Search
E.D.Ky.: Def’s keys under him when arrested were properly seized incident to arrest; testing key in a lock wasn’t a search
Defendant’s keys were on the ground under him when he was arrested face down and handcuffed behind his back. They were seen when he was lifted up to stand. They were seized incident to his arrest, and inserting the key … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: “The open fields doctrine allows searches based upon only visual observation.” Using a board to stir a tank was a search
A US Fish and Wildlife officer “interviewed Josh Monceaux who revealed that Williams fishes for and catches alligator snapping turtles in Texas and then sells them from his home in Elton, Louisiana. Monceaux also reported that Williams [G]oogle [E]arth* image … Continue reading
CO: In this recreational MJ use state, a dog sniff is a “search,” and a positive alert isn’t PC a crime is occurring
Use of a drug dog on a car is a “search” in marijuana recreational use Colorado, and a dog alert which could be of either legal or illegal substances is not probable cause. People v. McKnight, 2017 COA 93, 2017 … Continue reading
WI: Tax assessor’s effort to see interior of home for assessment implicates the 4A
The tax assessor’s demand to see the interior of plaintiffs’ house is a search governed by the Fourth Amendment. Because it is the home, it is not “minimal,” and there is no administrative search exception that permits it. The city … Continue reading
GA: A field sobriety test is not a “search”
A field sobriety test is not a “search,” recognizing authorities to the contrary. Mitchell v. State, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 545 (June 26, 2017):
CA6: Realtime cell phone GPS tracking of a fugitive for 7+ hours was not a “search”
Realtime cell phone GPS tracking of a fugitive for 7+ hours was not a “search” under the Fourth Amendment, following United States v. Skinner, 690 F.3d 772, 781 (6th Cir. 2012). United States v. Riley, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 9900 … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Prior illegal search of cell phone was moot by SW based on prior acquired info
Even though the government conducted an illegal warrantless search of defendant’s cell phone, they later obtained a search warrant based on previously acquired information, so the independent source doctrine applies. United States v. Keel, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58895 (N.D. … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: T-Mobile’s policy to do a data dump on any T-Mobile phone linked to a robbery of one of its stores doesn’t make it a government agent
A T-Mobile store was robbed, and their policy is to do a data dump including CSLI of any T-Mobile phone number potentially linked to the robbery. That does not make them a government agent in the data dump. United States … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: A stolen laptop from a prison medical provider wasn’t a “search”
A laptop of the medical provider was stolen, and plaintiff was told that his medical information may have been on it. He sued claiming a violation of the Fourth Amendment. This doesn’t state a claim. A stolen laptop is not … Continue reading
D.Del.: Dog sniff at a storage unit not a search
A dog sniff at a storage unit didn’t violate any reasonable expectation of privacy. It isn’t the same as curtilage of the home. Defendant’s attempt to show a Franks discrepancy because he originally rented C43 but moved two weeks later … Continue reading
D.Alaska: Installing GPS on a package with an anticipatory warrant didn’t require SW
An anticipatory search warrant was issued for 1921 but was delivered to 1911 because of the use of false addresses. The police entered to seize the package. Defendant doesn’t show he has standing in either the package or the place … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Pen register information collected beyond time limit of register not suppressed under 4A because it’s not a search
Pen register information collected outside the time period of the pen register order would not be suppressed under the Fourth Amendment because its collection is not even a “search.” Defendant has no standing in search warrants issued for two cell … Continue reading
CA11: “Inserting a probe into a woman’s vagina is plainly a search when performed by the government.”
Unwilling sonogram by a college in a class is a Fourth Amendment search. “Inserting a probe into a woman’s vagina is plainly a search when performed by the government.” Investigative purpose not required. Doe v. Valencia College Board of Trustees, … Continue reading
D.Del.: Where records examination is voluntary, no 4A claim stated where ptf refuses
The Delaware State Escheater sought an examination of records of Marathon Petroleum, and it refused to comply. The state could not force plaintiff to comply, so there is no search if plaintiff refuses. Marathon Petroleum Corp. v. Cook, 2016 U.S. … Continue reading
MA: That CI’s tip in another case wasn’t good enough doesn’t say much about this one where it was more detailed and better corroborated
The CI’s tip here was detailed and substantially corroborated. As to the CI’s track record, a search was suppressed on his information after this one occurred, but that doesn’t ipso facto impugn his credibility. In the other case, the CI’s … Continue reading
WaPo: The Volokh Conspiracy; Applying the Fourth Amendment to placing calls from a locked phone to identify its owner
WaPo: The Volokh Conspiracy: Applying the Fourth Amendment to placing calls from a locked phone to identify its owner by Orin Kerr:
WA: FST is a seizure, but it is not a search under Fourth Amendment
Field sobriety test is a seizure, but it is not a search under Fourth Amendment or the more inclusive state constitution. State v. Mecham, 2016 Wash. LEXIS 695 (June 16, 2016):
C.D.Ill.: Opening a flip phone to see the screen is a “search” under Hicks
Opening defendant’s flip phone to see the home screen is a search under Hicks. The phone was clearly seized under the Fourth Amendment. The government, however, showed probable cause for a search warrant for the phone, and that was independent … Continue reading
CT: Photographing def’s body would not be a search
“In the present case, the police officers’ attempts to photograph the defendant did not constitute either an unreasonable search or compelled self-incrimination. Because the defendant had no fourth or fifth amendment right to refuse to be photographed, his noncooperation was … Continue reading
IL: GJ subpoena for palm prints in cold case didn’t violate Fourth Amendment
A grand jury subpoena was used to get defendant’s palm prints while he was in prison in 2004 to see whether he was connected to a 1997 murder. The grand jury subpoena did not violate the Fourth Amendment or the … Continue reading