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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
--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
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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 -
"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: June 2014
No-fly list violates constitutional rights
WaPo: AP: Judge: No-fly list violates constitutional rights: PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. government offers no adequate method for people to challenge their placement on its no-fly list, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a case involving 13 Muslims who … Continue reading
KIRO (CBS Seattle): Woman calls police to report drone ‘spying’ outside Seattle apartment / Peeping Tom by drone
KIRO (CBS Seattle): Woman calls police to report drone ‘spying’ outside Seattle apartment by Joanna Small: A woman called police to report a Peeping Tom, but not the traditional kind. She says a drone was looking into her downtown Seattle … Continue reading
LAT: FAA restricts drone and model aircraft within 5 miles of airports
LAT: FAA restricts drone and model aircraft within 5 miles of airports by Matt Pierce: The Federal Aviation Administration restricted the unauthorized use of model aircraft and small drones near airports in a new interpretation of existing federal rules that … Continue reading
WaPo: New ACLU report takes a snapshot of police militarization in the United States
WaPo: New ACLU report takes a snapshot of police militarization in the United States by Radley Balko: Civil rights group studies 800 raids among 20 police agencies.
W.D.Pa.: SW for entire contents of cell phone was not overbroad in a drug case
A search warrant that was specific but covered virtually the entire contents of a cell phone was not overbroad where the phone was alleged to be used in drug dealing because it would all be potential evidence. The good faith … Continue reading
RI: No reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages sent to and on another’s telephone
Defendant has no standing to challenge the [consent] search of a cell phone of another person even though that cell phone was in his place where he would otherwise have a reasonable expectation of privacy. This case started with a … Continue reading
CNN to study drone use for reporting
CNN to study drone use for reporting by Brian Stetler: Seeking to speed up government rule-making about the use of drones in newsgathering, CNN and the Georgia Institute of Technology said Monday that they would jointly study how to operate … Continue reading
LAT: As hobby drone use increases, so do concerns about privacy, security
LAT: As hobby drone use increases, so do concerns about privacy, security by Joseph Serna: Drone use is becoming an issue as the unmanned aircraft become more popular, especially as a way for hobbyists to create videos. YouTube is filled … Continue reading
ABC News: Drone Killing Memo Released After NY Court Fight
ABC News: Drone Killing Memo Released After NY Court Fight by Larry Neumeister: A federal appeals court on Monday released a previously secret memo that provided legal justification for using drones to kill Americans suspected of terrorism overseas. The memo … Continue reading
Four SCOTUS opinion days left this Term: today, 25th, 26th, 30th–cell phone warrant cases still pending
SCOTUS has four opinion days left this Term. And, of course, still pending are the two cell phone search cases argued April 29th: Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie. They are highly significant privacy cases, and certainly all … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Federal Enforcement Of Police Reform
Federal Enforcement Of Police Reform, Stephen Rushin, 82 Fordham L. Rev. 3189 (2014). Abstract: Congress passed 42 U.S.C. § 14141 in an effort to combat police misconduct and incentivize proactive reform in local law enforcement agencies. The statute gives the … Continue reading
GA: Where backdoor is the one always used, it doesn’t violate curtilage for officers to go to backdoor
Defendant’s backdoor was the common method of coming and going from his house, so the police did not violate curtilage by going to the back door. In defendant’s car in the driveway, however, was evidence from a burglary in plain … Continue reading
OR: Ordering defendant out of his house for an FST was a “stop” and detention as a show of authority
Ordering defendant out of his house for a FST was a “stop” and detention under the state constitution because it was a show of authority. State v. Charles, 263 Or. App. ___, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 804 (June 18, 2014). … Continue reading
Three § 1983 cases: CA10: No PC for search, no good faith for officer relying on another’s conclusion of PC
Plaintiff was stopped for speeding and “perceived inconsistencies” in her story led to a request to search, her refusal, and then her two hour detention, drug dog and car search. No drugs were found. There was no probable cause for … Continue reading
NLJ: Shutting NSA ‘Backdoor’ Access to User Data
NLJ: Shutting NSA ‘Backdoor’ Access to User Data by Andrew Ramonas Backed by Google Inc. and other technology organizations, the House on Friday sent to the Senate legislation that would restrict National Security Agency ‘backdoor’ access to user data gathered … Continue reading
WWAY ABC Wilmington: Investigation claims WPD uses spy gear to snoop on citizens
WWAY ABC Wilmington: Investigation claims WPD uses spy gear to snoop on citizens: Is the Wilmington Police Department using spy gear to trick your cell phone into giving away private info? That’s what the ACLU and New Hanover County’s Public … Continue reading
WaPo: Drug seizures down as migrant flow rises
WaPo: Drug seizures down as migrant flow rises by Joshua Partlow and Nick Miroff: With the Border Patrol distracted by a surge of Central American migrants crossing into south Texas, Mexican cartels have had an easier time smuggling illegal drugs … Continue reading
techdirt: City Of Seattle Finds New Police Drones Might Be Too Invasive; Los Angeles Police Say, ‘Hey, We’ll Take Them!’
techdirt: City Of Seattle Finds New Police Drones Might Be Too Invasive; Los Angeles Police Say, ‘Hey, We’ll Take Them!’ by Tim Cushing: Los Angeles law enforcement agencies’ attitude towards surveillance has usually been, ‘sure, why not?’ Whatever L.A. law … Continue reading