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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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--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: SCOTUS
The automobile exception is 92 years old today
Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment at the border and beyond: A few thoughts on Hernandez v. Mesa
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment at the border and beyond: A few thoughts on Hernandez v. Mesa by Orin Kerr:
Criminal Law: White House, Gorsuch Could Clash on Search and Seizure
Criminal Law: White House, Gorsuch Could Clash on Search and Seizure by Jessica DaSilva: Protections for non-citizens against unreasonable government searches and seizures could be an area of disagreement between President Donald J. Trump and his nominee to the U.S. … Continue reading
NYT: Was That Search Illegal? Sometimes, Neil Gorsuch Ruled It Was
NYT: Was That Search Illegal? Sometimes, Neil Gorsuch Ruled It Was by Charles Savage:
Reason: Trump Nominates Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court; Fourth Amendment?
Reason: Trump Nominates Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court by Damon Root: Gorsuch has also rejected pro-government deference in the Fourth Amendment context. For instance, in his 2016 dissent in United States v. Carloss, Gorsuch strongly objected to the majority’s … Continue reading
CDT: President Trump Should Continue Justice Scalia’s First & Fourth Amendment Legacy
CDT: President Trump Should Continue Justice Scalia’s First & Fourth Amendment Legacy by Lisa Hayes. But he won’t. He has no knowledge of Scalia’s legacy other than what he’s told. There’s a different agenda at play (Roe v. Wade). Maybe … Continue reading
Cert.granted: District of Columbia v. Wesby on qualified immunity
Cert.granted: District of Columbia v. Wesby, 15-1485 (Jan. 19, 2017). Issues: (1) Whether police officers who found late-night partiers inside a vacant home belonging to someone else had probable cause to arrest the partiers for trespassing under the Fourth Amendment, … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice Frankfurter speaks
WaPo: Justice Frankfurter speaks by Orin Kerr: The Harvard Law Library recently posted a neat 46-minute interview of Justice Felix Frankfurter from the early 1960s. Frankfurter, who is interviewed by Professor Paul Freund, speaks about legal education, the role of … Continue reading
SCOTUS: Warning before use of deadly force not “clearly established” [or established at all]
It does not violate clearly established law under the Fourth Amendment to shoot without warning when the shooting is otherwise justified. White v. Pauly, 2017 U.S. LEXIS 5 (Jan. 9, 2017) (per curiam):
SCOTUS cert grant: County of Los Angeles v. Mendez: excessive force
SCOTUS grants cert in County of Los Angeles v. Mendez, 16-639, cert. pet. here, granting on questions 1 and 3. Questions presented: In a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, the district court concluded Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department (“LASD”) deputies … Continue reading
IP Watchdog: Review the Rule Act would delay SCOTUS proposed changes to Rule 41 on warrants for electronic searches [except it goes into effect at midnight]
IP Watchdog: Review the Rule Act would delay SCOTUS proposed changes to Rule 41 on warrants for electronic searches by Steve Brachmann Query: Can Congress block a rule after sitting on their hands from SCOTUS notice to them in April … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice Scalia’s impact on Fourth Amendment law
WaPo: Justice Scalia’s impact on Fourth Amendment law by Orin Kerr (posted November 23): Last week, at the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, I was on an excellent panel about Justice Antonin Scalia and criminal law. My co-panelists were Rachel … Continue reading
WaPo: “The Volokh Conspiracy” Blog: Justice Scalia’s impact on Fourth Amendment law
WaPo: “The Volokh Conspiracy” Blog: Justice Scalia’s impact on Fourth Amendment law by Orin Kerr: “He had a big impact on its form, but less impact on its substance. Or so I argued in a recent panel at the Federalist … Continue reading
NYTimes: Let’s Legislate From the Supreme Court Bench
NYTimes: Let’s Legislate From the Supreme Court Bench by Linda Greenhouse: Once despised by the political right, legislating from the Supreme Court bench is now celebrated, as long as its their judges doing it.
SCOTUS grants cert. in Hernández v. Mesa–cross border killing of teenager by Border Patrol officer
Hernández v. Mesa, cert. granted Oct. 11, 2016 (SCOTUSBlog): Issue: (1) Whether a formalist or functionalist analysis governs the extraterritorial application of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unjustified deadly force, as applied to a cross-border shooting of an unarmed Mexican … Continue reading
techdirt: After Appeals Court Flip-Flop, Aaron Graham Asks Supreme Court To Examine Warrantless Access To Cell Location Info
techdirt: After Appeals Court Flip-Flop, Aaron Graham Asks Supreme Court To Examine Warrantless Access To Cell Location Info by Tim Cushing:
SCOTUSBlog: The Court after Scalia: The despicable and dispensable exclusionary rule
SCOTUSBlog: The Court after Scalia: The despicable and dispensable exclusionary rule by Akhil Amar: Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. His new book, The Constitution Today, contains much more material on several … Continue reading
NYTimes: Court Leader or Leading Dissenter? Chief Justice’s Fate Tied to Election
NYTimes: Court Leader or Leading Dissenter? Chief Justice’s Fate Tied to Election by Adam Liptak: WASHINGTON — In Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s 11 years on the Supreme Court, his unfolding legacy has been marked by a debate over … Continue reading
Esquire: The Bill of Rights Is Hanging by a Thread
Esquire: The Bill of Rights Is Hanging by a Thread by Charles P. Pierce: The law is supposed to be our protector, not our enemy.
SCOTUSBlog: The Court after Scalia: Scalia’s absence may help preserve the exclusionary rule
SCOTUSBlog: The Court after Scalia: Scalia’s absence may help preserve the exclusionary rule by Orin Kerr: