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- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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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)
--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)
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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)
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“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] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"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. 
Monthly Archives: April 2014
New Law Review Article: Civil discovery as a search? Probable cause required?
New Law Review Article: A Tale of Two Searches: Intrusive Civil Discovery Rules Violate the Fourth Amendment Chad DeVeaux, A Tale of Two Searches: Intrusive Civil Discovery Rules Violate the Fourth Amendment, 46 Conn. L. Rev. 1083 (2014). Abstract:
New Law Review Article: “Personal Curtilage”: Fourth Amendment Security In Public
Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Personal Curtilage: Fourth Amendment Security in Public, 55 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1283 (2014). Abstract:
C.D.Cal.: Administrative searches for condom use in the porn industry
LA County requires that adult film producers obtain a permit and requires performers to use condoms during vaginal and anal intercourse. They have to keep the permit on display, and county health inspectors can enter at any time to inspect … Continue reading
AOL: Senate Committee Votes To Keep Driver Black Box Data Private
AOL: Senate Committee Votes To Keep Driver Black Box Data Private The legislation stipulates that the owner or lessee of the vehicle is the only person entitled to the data in the black box
M.D.Pa.: Failure to show SW not Fourth Amendment violation
Even if defendant was not shown a search warrant during the search (a fact in dispute), that’s not a ground to suppress. It violates Rule 41, but not the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Harley, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49396 … Continue reading
HuffPo: DEA Raided This Woman’s House After She Shopped At A Garden Store
HuffPo: DEA Raided This Woman’s House After She Shopped At A Garden Store by Matt Sledge:
M.D.Pa.: Police recording the one side of a telephone conversation they could already hear did not implicate ECPA
Police recording the one side of a telephone conversation they could already hear did not implicate the Electronic Communications Privacy act. United States v. Ray, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49647 (M.D. Pa. April 10, 2014):
New Law Review Article: Binary Searches and the Central Meaning of the Fourth Amendment
Lawrence Rosenthal, Binary Searches and the Central Meaning of the Fourth Amendment, 22 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 881 (2014). Abstract:
MA: Emergency aid exception applies to animals in distress
The emergency aid exception to the warrant requirement applies to life-threatening emergencies involving animals. The legislature has made it clear that animal abuse is against the law. “In addition to promoting life-saving measures, the ability to render such assistance vindicates … Continue reading
New format
Notice the new format, in WordPress, after ten days of converting data. After the crash a few weeks ago, we found we could transport all the old posts to WordPress. Earlier, it wasn’t economically feasible, and now it was. Sunday’s … Continue reading
OR: No RS for frisk; defendant made no furtive movements and asked why the need for a search
The officer lacked reasonable suspicion that defendant was armed to justify a frisk. Defendant, inter alia, made no furtive movements, and asked why the officers had to search him and his demeanor changed when it came up. Nothing here indicates … Continue reading
BLT: D.C. Magistrate Judge Sets Up Showdown Over Cellphone Data
BLT: D.C. Magistrate Judge Sets Up Showdown Over Cellphone Data by Zoe Tillman:
NYT: Adding Insult to Gun Injuries, Police Often Handcuff [Shooting] Victims
NYT: Adding Insult to Gun Injuries, Police Often Handcuff [Shooting] Victims by Joseph Goldstein:
TN: 911 shooting call was exigency that included EMTs and CSIs
911 call about a shooting at 1:23 am, and “He’s in here” when they arrive justifies an emergency entry. [Certainly sounds like consent, too.] The real issue, however, is whether that also includes EMTs who follow and CSIs, and the … Continue reading
OH2: Motion to suppress raised legality of stop; error to decide length of detention without notice to state
The motion to suppress addressed only the legality of the stop, and it didn’t mention the post-stop detention. The state was, therefore, not prepared to defend on that ground, and the trial court erred in deciding that ground without notice … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Warrant for everything on a cell phone (“text-messages, videos, photos, records of internet usage and movement tracking information”) dealing with one day and a particular crime at least good under GFE
The government sought a warrant for everything on a cell phone (“text-messages, videos, photos, records of internet usage and movement tracking information”) dealing with one day and a particular crime, so the warrant was not necessarily overbroad. The overbreadth issue … Continue reading
CA11: 13 month old information of possession of a firearm is not stale
13 month old information of possession of a firearm is not stale. “Unlawful possession of a firearm is an ongoing crime, so ‘old’ information is relevant to the question of present probable cause. Additionally, unlike narcotics, firearms are not consumable … Continue reading
WaPo: N.Y. search warrant case shows why we need the Exclusionary Rule
WaPo: N.Y. search warrant case shows why we need the Exclusionary Rule by Radley Balko:
NY3: Warrant requirement in rental inspection ordinance made it constitutional
The rental unit inspection ordinance is not unconstitutional. It provides a warrant procedure if the owner refuses consent. “As the inclusion of the warrant requirement is sufficient to safeguard plaintiff’s constitutional rights, his challenge to the facial validity of the … Continue reading
WY: Affidavit for SW for blood draw in felony DUI was conclusory that defendant was even the driver
The affidavit for defendant’s BAC in this felony DUI case was order suppressed on appeal because it offered bare conclusions that defendant was the driver of the car. On what was presented to the issuing magistrate, it was completely lacking. … Continue reading