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- E.D.Mo.: Listing in inventory only things of some value didn’t make it unreasonable
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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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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"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, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"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) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Racial profiling
NYLJ: Trump’s Court Blesses Racial Profiling
NYLJ: Trump’s Court Blesses Racial Profiling:
Mediate: Trump’s Border Czar Sparks Firestorm of Anger By Telling Fox News ICE Can Detain Based on ‘Physical Appearance’
Mediate: Trump’s Border Czar Sparks Firestorm of Anger By Telling Fox News ICE Can Detain Based on ‘Physical Appearance’ by Alex Griffing
LAT: Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens
LAT: Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens by Brittny Mejia & Rachel Uranga (“Brian Gavidia had stepped out from working on a car at a tow yard in a Los Angeles suburb … Continue reading
D.Colo.: Racial profiling claim is relevant to officer’s credibility in a civil rights case
In a civil rights case, “Evidence of racial profiling (i.e., bias) by Trooper Padilla would tend to make the fact to which he is expected to testify (i.e., that Plaintiff failed the roadside sobriety tests and thus there was probable … Continue reading
CBS19 News: State data shows Black drivers are most pulled over during traffic stops
CBS19 News: State data shows Black drivers are most pulled over during traffic stops by Macy Moors (“When it comes to African-American drivers, things shift. Black drivers account for 30 percent of traffic stops but only make up 19 percent … Continue reading
The Crime Report: Continued Use of “Terry Stops” Raise Concerns of Racial Profiling and Trauma
The Crime Report: Continued Use of “Terry Stops” Raise Concerns of Racial Profiling and Trauma (“The frequently used stopping practice has garnered attention from reform advocates who insist it relies on racial profiling.”).
CBS News: Racial Profiling 2.0
CBS News: Racial Profiling 2.0 (“As police departments turn to big data to help reduce crime in their neighborhoods, advocacy groups are sounding the alarm about high-tech racial profiling. The algorithm-driven systems analyze supposedly impartial historical crime data to predict … Continue reading
Appeal.org: Commentary: The Enduring Trauma of Stop-and-Frisk
Appeal.org: Commentary: The Enduring Trauma of Stop-and-Frisk by Jamal Trulove (“As a Black child in San Francisco, I learned early that mine and others’ bodies meant nothing to those supposedly tasked with our protection.”)
The Post and Courier: Charleston police disproportionately pull over black drivers. Here’s the plan to fix it.
The Post and Courier: Charleston police disproportionately pull over black drivers. Here’s the plan to fix it. by Gregory Yee (“After years of concerns aired by members of the African American community, Charleston officials approved a racial bias audit of … Continue reading
WTOP: DC police officers say raising serious concerns led to retaliation
WTOP: DC police officers say raising serious concerns led to retaliation by Mike Murillo:
Philadelphia Inquirer: As Philadelphia aims to curb racial disparities, why are police stops of black drivers skyrocketing?
Philadelphia Inquirer: As Philadelphia aims to curb racial disparities, why are police stops of black drivers skyrocketing? by Samantha Melamed (“Although Philadelphia police and civil rights lawyers have been monitoring pedestrian stops and frisks since 2011 — when they entered … Continue reading
WRAL.com: Border Patrol agent accused of ‘textbook racial profiling’
WRAL.com: Border Patrol agent accused of ‘textbook racial profiling’ by David Sharp (“The U.S. Border Patrol’s suspicions about a family were aroused because they appeared to be of “Central-American origin” and because they spoke Spanish while shopping at a store … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Implicit Racial Bias and Students’ Fourth Amendment Rights
New Law Review Article: Jason P. Nance, Implicit Racial Bias and Students’ Fourth Amendment Rights, 94 Ind. L. J. 47 (2019):
CA2: Remand required for determination for reason for delay in getting computer SW
Defendant was found passed out in a car on a rural road with the car in gear and the engine running. A tablet was on the seat. Searching the car for information about him, an image of child pornography was … Continue reading
VT: No sovereign immunity for flagrant search and seizure violations; implied right of action under state constitution
“¶ 84. In sum, we conclude that a direct private right of action for damages based on alleged flagrant violations of Article 11 is available against the State. The common law doctrine of sovereign immunity does not preclude such an … Continue reading
WaPo: Two black pastors wanted help with a flat tire. A sheriff’s deputy asked if they had guns or drugs.
WaPo: Two black pastors wanted help with a flat tire. A sheriff’s deputy asked if they had guns or drugs. by Taylor Telford: Now an investigation of possible profiling.
Newsweek: Police Are Three Times More Likely to Kill Black Men, Study Finds: ‘Not a Problem Confined to a Single Region’
Newsweek: Police Are Three Times More Likely to Kill Black Men, Study Finds: ‘Not a Problem Confined to a Single Region’ by Scottie Andrew: Police violence and homicide have persistently and disproportionately affected black communities for decades. A new study … Continue reading
Miami Herald: The chief wanted perfect stats, so cops were told to pin crimes on black people, probe found
Miami Herald: The chief wanted perfect stats, so cops were told to pin crimes on black people, probe found by Charles Rabin, Jay Weaver & David Ovalle:
Big Think: Predictive policing: Data can be used to prevent crime, but is that data racially tinged?
Big Think: Predictive policing: Data can be used to prevent crime, but is that data racially tinged? by Eric Siegel:
OH4: Objective basis for stop obviates racial profiling claim
Defendant’s stop for an abrupt lane change and then driving 45 in a 55 was justification for the stop. There was an objective basis for the stop, so defendant’s racial profiling claim is rejected. The driver was obviously extremely nervous … Continue reading