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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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© 2003-23,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 350,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (25,700+ on WordPress as of 12/31/22)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
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F.R.Crim.P. 41
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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
Electronic Frontier Foundation
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"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!”
"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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock
Category Archives: Foreign searches
S.D.Ga.: SW for premises is for evidence and requires no crime on the premises
“An affidavit seeking a search warrant for a residence need not contain ‘an allegation that the illegal activity occurred at the location,’ … but it ‘should establish a connection between the defendant and the residence to be searched and a … Continue reading
CA4: Govt is not responsible when a subpoenaed party turns over more than was sought
The government is not responsible when a subpoenaed party turns over more than was sought. United States v. Taylor, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 33418 (4th Cir. Dec. 5, 2022). Officers executing a search warrant at defendant’s house repeatedly made it … Continue reading
CA7: The question is only whether the officer reasonably believed def violated the law, not whether def did
“‘[T]he question … is whether [the officer] reasonably believed that he saw a traffic violation, not whether [the defendant] actually violated the [law].’ Cole, 21 F.4th at 428.” United States v. Yang, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 19125 (7th Cir. July … Continue reading
CA7: The question is not whether def committed a traffic violation, it’s whether the officer reasonably believed he did
“‘[T]he question … is whether [the officer] reasonably believed that he saw a traffic violation, not whether [the defendant] actually violated the [law].’ Cole, 21 F.4th at 428.” United States v. Yang, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 19125 (7th Cir. July … Continue reading
CA2: Video surveillance in Thailand legal under Thai law admissible here
The DEA with Thai officers installed a camera and listening device in a dwelling in Phuket, Thailand. Defendant was a short-time guest there and he was recorded. Apparently the installation and monitoring was legal under Thai law. The capture of … Continue reading
D.D.C.: SW not needed to search seized oligarch’s yacht in foreign port
A warrant for search of a Russian oligarch’s seized yacht under sanctions for the Ukraine invasion is denied as probably unnecessary. “The Fourth Amendment does not apply to the search and seizure of property owned by a nonresident alien located … Continue reading
CA2: MLAT treaty search of Netherlands server was a foreign search
El Chapo’s case: The district court was correct in not suppressing telephone calls on a drug cartel network set up in the Netherlands to facilitate their drug trafficking. The information was obtained by an MLAT treaty request, and it was … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Def abandoned a gun in flight up stairs in a house
Defendant fled up stairs when the police entered on a search warrant. He was captured finally on the third floor landing and was brought downstairs. A gun was found where he was lying on the floor. It was abandoned. United … Continue reading
CA2: No 4A extraterritorial jurisdiction over Switzerland enforcing its own law against Americans in Switzerland
An extraterritorial seizure of art work and antiquities in Switzerland of American citizens doesn’t involve the Fourth Amendment. International law has not adopted the Fourth Amendment’s probable cause standard. There is no justification shown for applying the Fourth Amendment to … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: No 4A protection for non-citizen stopped by CG at sea
A non-citizen on an unflagged boat at sea off Florida had no protection of the Fourth Amendment from a Coast Guard stop. In addition, the stop was based on reasonable suspicion merely from observation. United States v. Perez, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Jettisoning packages from vessel in international waters is RS
“The Coast Guard observed Valverde and the crew jettisoning packages from a vessel located in international waters.” This was reasonable suspicion for a stop and boarding. United States v. De La Cruz Valverde, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 225685 (M.D. Fla. … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Helping Canada comply with a US MLAT request doesn’t make it a joint venture
Merely helping Canadian law enforcement comply with an MLAT request from the United States was not a joint venture. United States v. Kachkar, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 222738 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 30, 2020). Defendant’s cell phone was seized at the … Continue reading
CA3: Foreign search didn’t violate 4A
“Standing alone, foreign law enforcement officials sharing information gleaned from their own activities with United States authorities — even if cloaked in cooperative terms in agency reports — is not indicative of an impermissible joint venture, and thus, the District … Continue reading
D.P.R.: USMS observing def’s arrest in Dominican Republic didn’t make arresting officers U.S. agents
The USMS observing defendant’s arrest in the Dominican Republic wasn’t enough to make the actions of the arresting officers agents of the United States. United States v. Acevedo-Martinez, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87958 (D. P.R. May 18, 2020):
IL: Failure to show nexus even by inference of def’s connection to premises in SW was a failure of PC
The state failed to show nexus between defendant and the place to be searched that would show that defendant kept drugs on the premises. “To be sure, a judge issuing a search warrant is entitled to draw reasonable inferences from … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Foreign wiretap complied with their law so it was reasonable for 4A purposes; GFE also applied
“While it is clear that a joint venture has not been adequately alleged by Escalante-Melgar, even if a joint venture is assumed in this case, evidence obtained from the Salvadoran wiretaps would still be admissible. … Here, there is no … Continue reading
CA5: Citizen of China on ship stopped on high seas by U.S. officers had no 4A rights
“Liang’s first argument, concerning the denial of a hearing on his motion to suppress evidence, is wholly frivolous. Because Liang is ‘a citizen and resident of [China] with no voluntary attachment to the United States’ and the challenged search occurred … Continue reading
CA11: 49 days for presentment to a USMJ after arrest on the high seas of a foreign national wasn’t unreasonable
“In this drug trafficking case under the MDLEA, we too must follow Verdugo-Urquidez and conclude that defendant Guagua-Alarcon, who is a non U.S. citizen and non-U.S. resident, and who has no significant connection to the United States, cannot challenge under … Continue reading
