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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
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© 2003-20,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. about 30,000 posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me“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"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!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
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Category Archives: SCOTUS
CA3: Byrd who won in SCOTUS on standing loses on remand because there was PC for the search
On remand from Byrd v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 1518 (2018), holding that defendant had standing in his rental car, defendant loses on the merits because there was probable cause for the search of his car because of the admission … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Def doesn’t show that his guilty plea was unknowing as a result of IAC on a 4A claim
“The movant’s unsubstantiated claim that counsel’s mistakes on a Fourth Amendment issue somehow rendered his guilty plea unknowing are insufficient to overcome a record that reflects that the plea was knowing and voluntary.” Hernandez-Rodriguez v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
SCOTUS: LPN check that comes back showing owner’s DL was revoked justifies a stop unless the officer has reason to believe the driver is not the owner
An LPN check that comes back showing owner’s DL was revoked justifies a stop unless the officer has reason to believe the driver is not the owner. Kansas v. Glover, 2020 U.S. LEXIS 2178 (Apr. 6, 2020):
SCOTUSBlog: Petitions of the week
SCOTUSBlog: Petitions of the week includes: Hamm v. Tennessee19-1059Issue: Whether police violate the Fourth Amendment when they conduct a suspicionless search of a probationer’s home.
SCOTUS: The estate of a young man shot and killed across the U.S.-Mexico border by a U.S. Border Patrol agent has no 4A or 5A Bivens claim.
The estate of a young man shot and killed across the U.S.-Mexico border by a U.S. Border Patrol agent for no reason has no Bivens claim for a Fourth or Fifth Amendment claim. Hernández v. Mesa, 2020 U.S. LEXIS 1361 … Continue reading
Reason.com: The Supreme Court Tackles Police Shootings, Excessive Force, and the Fourth Amendment
Reason.com: The Supreme Court Tackles Police Shootings, Excessive Force, and the Fourth Amendment by Damon Root (“What’s at stake in Torres v. Madrid.”)
Reason: The Volokh Conspiracy: The Role of Originalism in Torres v. Madrid
Reason: The Volokh Conspiracy: The Role of Originalism in Torres v. Madrid by Orin S. Kerr (“Some preliminary thoughts on a fascinating case.”)
SCOTUS cert grant: Torres v. Madrid: Is a person shot driving away from the police “seized”?
Torres v. Madrid, 19-292 (granted Dec. 18, 2019): Issue: Whether an unsuccessful attempt to detain a suspect by use of physical force is a “seizure” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: Justices to take up battle over Trump financial documents [or, what does this mean to the third-party doctrine?]
SCOTUSBlog: Justices to take up battle over Trump financial documents by Amy Howe:
Reason: Volokh Conspiracy: What is “individualized” suspicion?
Reason: Volokh Conspiracy: What is “individualized” suspicion? by Orin S. Kerr:
Reason: Reasonable Suspicion From Driver to Car: A Few Thoughts on Kansas v. Glover
Reason: Reasonable Suspicion From Driver to Car: A Few Thoughts on Kansas v. Glover by Orin S. Kerr Some interesting issues raised by the only Fourth Amendment case currently on the Supreme Court’s docket.
SCOTUSblog: Argument preview: Can the police stop a vehicle because its registered owner’s license has been suspended or revoked?
SCOTUSblog: Argument preview: Can the police stop a vehicle because its registered owner’s license has been suspended or revoked? by Evan Lee (“Next Monday, November 4, the Supreme Court will hear argument in a case that asks whether it is … Continue reading
Reason: The Supreme Court’s Next Big Fourth Amendment Case
Reason: The Supreme Court’s Next Big Fourth Amendment Case by Damon Root (“What’s at stake in Kansas v. Glover.”).
Time: Justice Neil Gorsuch: Why Originalism Is the Best Approach to the Constitution
Time: Justice Neil Gorsuch: Why Originalism Is the Best Approach to the Constitution
The Atlantic: The Supreme Court Is Not Well. And the People Know It.
The Atlantic: The Supreme Court Is Not Well. And the People Know It. by Garrett Epps (“A new guns case reveals that the once-noble institution has died, and we’re left working with its corpse.”)
SCOTUSblog: Opinion analysis: Court upholds warrantless blood tests for unconscious drunk-driving suspects
SCOTUSblog: Opinion analysis: Court upholds warrantless blood tests for unconscious drunk-driving suspects by Amy Howe: Yesterday a divided Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment generally does not bar states from taking a blood sample from an unconscious drunk-driving suspect … Continue reading
