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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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--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 -
"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: Cell site simulators
The Intercept: Stingrays–A Secret Catalogue of Government Gear for Spying on Your Cellphone
The Intercept: Stingrays-A Secret Catalogue of Government Gear for Spying on Your Cellphone by Jeremy Scahill & Margot Williams: THE INTERCEPT HAS OBTAINED a secret, internal U.S. government catalogue of dozens of cellphone surveillance devices used by the military and … Continue reading
Verge: Illinois court sets new rules for cops using Stingrays
Verge: Illinois court sets new rules for cops using Stingrays by Ashley Carman: A recent court ruling just made it harder for police to track down your cell phone. An Illinois district court judge issued new requirements earlier this month … Continue reading
Wired: Turns Out Police Stingray Spy Tools Can Indeed Record Calls
Wired: Turns Out Police Stingray Spy Tools Can Indeed Record Calls by Kim Zetter: The federal government has been fighting hard for years to hide details about its use of so-called stingray surveillance technology from the public. The surveillance devices … Continue reading
The Guardian: IRS possessed Stingray cellphone surveillance gear, documents reveal
The Guardian: IRS possessed Stingray cellphone surveillance gear, documents reveal by Nicky Wolff and William Green: The Internal Revenue Service is the latest in a growing list of US federal agencies known to have possessed the sophisticated cellphone dragnet equipment … Continue reading
Verge.com: Homeland Security will now get warrants for Stingray surveillance
Verge.com: Homeland Security will now get warrants for Stingray surveillance by Russell Brandom: The Department of Homeland Security has a new, more constitutional policy for cell-site simulators, also known as Stingrays. Rolled out today, the new policy follows in the … Continue reading
Vocativ: Police In These 22 States Can Trick Your Cell Phone
Vocativ: Police In These 22 States Can Trick Your Cell Phone by Brian Patrick Byrne: Stingray purchases are so shrouded in secrecy that they’re probably used a lot more than we know When police turn to technology to catch a … Continue reading
ACLU of No. Cal.: Sacramento Sheriff’s New StingRay Surveillance Policy is Flawed
ACLU of No. Cal.: Sacramento Sheriff’s New StingRay Surveillance Policy is Flawed by Linda Lye: In response to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, the Sacramento Sheriff has now admitted that it used intrusive cellphone surveillance technology – commonly known … Continue reading
Baltimore Sun: Public defender’s office to review cases involving stingray technology
Baltimore Sun: Public defender’s office to review cases involving stingray technology by Jessica Anderson: The Baltimore public defender’s office said it plans to review nearly 2,000 cases in which police used a controversial cellphone surveillance tool without defense attorneys’ knowledge, … Continue reading
VICE News: Baltimore PD used stringray in 837 cases citing USA Today
VICE News: US Cops Aren’t Getting Warrants to Spy on People’s Cellphones for Petty Crimes: Law enforcement’s secretive and often-times warrantless use of the cellphone tracking device known as StingRay is receiving fresh scrutiny this week following an investigation into … Continue reading
Center for Investigative Reporting: Criminal suspects challenge legality of warrantless cellphone tracking
Center for Investigative Reporting: Criminal suspects challenge legality of warrantless cellphone tracking by Ali Winston: Four men charged in federal court with attempted murder in the shooting of an Oakland, California, police officer in 2013 are seeking to have evidence-–including … Continue reading
ACLU: FBI Slow-Walking Toward End Of Illegitimate Stingray Secrecy
ACLU: FBI Slow-Walking Toward End Of Illegitimate Stingray Secrecy by Nathan Freed Wessler: For years, the FBI and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies have been using invasive cell phone surveillance equipment, called Stingrays or cell site simulators, … Continue reading
The New American: DOJ Lifting Veil on Secret Cellphone Tracking
The New American: DOJ Lifting Veil on Secret Cellphone Tracking by Bob Adelmann: Thanks to increasing pressure from the public and from publications such as ARS Technica and the Wall Street Journal to disclose just how the Justice Department is … Continue reading
boingboing: FBI replies to Stingray Freedom of Information request with 5,000 blank pages
boingboing: FBI replies to Stingray Freedom of Information request with 5,000 blank pages by Cory Doctorow: The Stingray — a fake cellphone tower that gathers identity/location information on everyone who passes it — is the worst-kept secret in law enforcement, … Continue reading
Baltimore Sun: Baltimore judge allows police use of Stingray phone tracking in murder case
Baltimore Sun: Baltimore judge allows police use of Stingray phone tracking in murder case by Justin Fenton: A city judge turned back a challenge Monday to the Baltimore Police Department’s use of a controversial cellphone surveillance tool in a murder … Continue reading
Wired: [Erie Co.] NY Cops Used ‘Stingray’ Spy Tool 46 Times Without Warrant
Wired: NY Cops Used ‘Stingray’ Spy Tool 46 Times Without Warrant by Kin Zetter: The police department in Erie County, New York fought hard to prevent the New York Civil Liberties Union from obtaining records about its use of a … Continue reading
Marlin Finance: The rise of the cell phone ‘StingRay’
Marlin Finance: The rise of the cell phone ‘StingRay’ The one item an adult in 2015 never leaves home without is his or her cell phone. Pretty soon the same will be true for children as well. But a controversial … Continue reading
ACLU Stingray Report: Stingrays: The Most Common Surveillance Tool the Government Won’t Tell You About
Download: Stingrays: The Most Common Surveillance Tool the Government Won’t Tell You About Federal and state law enforcement entities across the country are using a powerful cell phone surveillance tool commonly referred to as a “StingRay.” These devices are capable … Continue reading
Forbes: Drones Are Intercepting Cell Phone Signals in L.A.
Forbes: Drones Are Intercepting Cell Phone Signals in L.A. by Frank Bi: Even before the Federal Aviation Administration unveiled its proposed regulations for commercial drone flights in the United States last week, one company was already at work, using drones … Continue reading