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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,
citations, and links -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"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: Subpoenas / Nat’l Security Letters
AZ: Successfully controverting PC for SW requires return of copies of digital evidence
Defendant in a criminal case was suspected of Arizona wildlife offenses, and the state procured a search warrant. He successful controverted the warrant for lack of probable cause under state statute. Digital copies of evidence were kept by the state. … Continue reading
CA10: Criminal history checks may be run in any stop under Rodriguez
Criminal history checks are reasonable under any traffic stop because they negligibly extend the stop. This court held that en banc in 2001 in a case relied upon in Rodriguez. Other circuits are in accord. United States v. Mayville, 2020 … Continue reading
Cal.1: The state cannot be forced to issue a SW to gather evidence for the defense
The defense sought murder victims’ social media account content, and the trial court refused to quash a subpoena which was challenged under the Stored Communications Act. The materials by statute would have to be produced in camera. As an alternative … Continue reading
Cal.4: SDT for financial records in a pollution investigation to properly assess penalty was reasonable
The state’s subpoena for records in a pollution investigation were statutorily based, within the agency’s jurisdiction, and reasonable in scope. Here, the records were financial, and it was for imposing a reasonable penalty. The subpoena also did not violate a … Continue reading
Bloomberg Law: INSIGHT: State Investigations—50 Takes on Subpoena, Privilege, Document Rules
Bloomberg Law: INSIGHT: State Investigations—50 Takes on Subpoena, Privilege, Document Rules by Brendan Parets:
N.D.Cal. & W.D.Wash.: Summons in IRS Bitcoin investigation should be limited as to years covered
The IRS summons in a cryptocurrency investigation, the government satisfied the Powell standard with the exception of a proper time limitation on the years covered. Similar is Zietzke v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 204274 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 25, … Continue reading
CA3: Nondisclosure order of GJ subpoena and later SW under SCA was reasonable based on GJ secrecy
A court order to not disclose the existence of a grand jury subpoena for records under the Stored Communications Act led to a search warrant for additional data. The order to not disclose is based on grand jury secrecy, and … Continue reading
techdirt: Documents Show The FBI Is Targeting Financial Institutions, Credit Reporting Agencies, And Universities With NSLs
techdirt: Documents Show The FBI Is Targeting Financial Institutions, Credit Reporting Agencies, And Universities With NSLs by Tim Cushing (“We’ve written several times before about the FBI and its unnatural love for National Security Letters. NSLs make the FBI tick. … Continue reading
The Federalist: DOJ Lawsuit Demands Names Of All People Who Use This App For Their Gun
The Federalist: DOJ Lawsuit Demands Names Of All People Who Use This App For Their Gun by Kyle Sammin:
VT: Inquest subpoena for video of police involved shooting is a public record
A television station sought access to a video of a police involved shooting produced before an inquest. The record is presumptively an open record. “The pivotal question in this case is whether a trial-court order granting a motion to quash … Continue reading
CA5: Medical Board violated 4A by demanding immediate compliance with SDT; but they get qualified immunity
The Texas Medical Board violated the Fourth Amendment when conducting an administrative search of a physician’s office because it demanded immediate compliance with its subpoena. The medical industry as a whole was not a closely regulated industry, and the statutory … Continue reading
D.Colo.: MMJ facility subject to IRS summons for back taxes can’t show summons was unreasonable
Petitioner is a medical marijuana facility under investigation by the IRS for selling product in violation of state law and not paying the taxes on it. (This was for tax years pre-recreational sales.) The IRS showed that the summonses were … Continue reading
NYTimes: D.E.A. Secretly Collected Bulk Records of Money-Counter Purchases
NYTimes: D.E.A. Secretly Collected Bulk Records of Money-Counter Purchases by Charlie Savage:
WaPo Retropod: Robert Morris, the creator of the subpoena
WaPo Retropod: Robert Morris, the creator of the subpoena (6:05): The history of subpoenas, and the fiery congressional hearings that have captivated Americans for centuries began with a Founding Father raising his hand to say, “Investigate me!”
IA: Product of valid administrative subpoena could be turned over to prosecutors for other action
Defendant was a former nursing home nurse, and she was under investigation by the state for allegedly getting some government benefits she wasn’t entitled to. The state Department of Investigations and Appeals issued subpoenas for bank records. They didn’t find … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Def should have discovered his 4A claim with exercise of due diligence years earlier; 2255 denied
2255 petitioner sought to extend the statute of limitations for what he alleges is a late discovered search and seizure claim with merit. The court finds that he would have discovered the claim years early with the exercise of due … Continue reading
D.D.C.: SEC subpoena aiding Israel securities dept is overbroad and must be narrowed
Waymack is a doctor in the U.S. who also has business in Israel. Israel sought assistance from the SEC under an international MOU for a securities investigation there. Waymack has a Fifth Amendment privilege to not provide information in the … Continue reading
D.N.M.: The fact a SW might be invalid isn’t grounds for an injunction for return of property where prosecution was still contemplated
Plaintiff seeks an injunction contending that the seizure of tax resister literature violated the First and Fourth Amendment. The seizure was based on a warrant that it is evidence of a crime not yet prosecuted. The fact the Fourth Amendment … Continue reading
WA: State AG’s civil investigative demand to a company did not unreasonably intrude into “private affairs” or violate 4A
A company that consolidated student loans was required to comply with the Washington State Attorney General’s civil investigative demand (CID) under Wash. Rev. Code § 19.86.110. The company did not have a right against self-incrimination and the CID did not … Continue reading