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- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
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- 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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General (many free):
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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
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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: July 2014
Law.com: Storm Brewing Over Feds’ Use of Cell Tower Info
Law.com: Storm Brewing Over Feds’ Use of Cell Tower Info: A federal magistrate wants Melinda Haag’s office to explain why a warrant shouldn’t be required to obtain locations of mobile phone users.
Law.com: Microsoft Braces for Long Battle Over U.S. Warrant
Law.com: Microsoft Braces for Long Battle Over U.S. Warrant by Andrew Ramonas: Microsoft Corp. and its allies have prepared for a long battle in the courts and in Congress over a 1986 electronic communications law as the technology giant fights … Continue reading
Law.com: Police Unions’ Motion Denied in NYC Stop/Frisk
Law.com: Police Unions’ Motion Denied in Stop/Frisk by Andrew Keshner: Southern District Judge Analisa Torres said police unions’ intervenor bids opposing the settlement between New York City and plaintiffs in stop-and-frisk litigation were untimely and the unions had “no significant … Continue reading
Daily Caller: Government’s Crafty New Method Of Accessing Your Email
Daily Caller: Government’s Crafty New Method Of Accessing Your Email by Giuseppe Macri: Microsoft is set to argue in federal court Thursday why the government shouldn’t be able to access customer emails stored in overseas servers, and the company wants … Continue reading
ACLU Urges SF Federal Court to Tackle Warrantless Cell Tracking
ACLU Urges SF Federal Court to Tackle Warrantless Cell Tracking by Nicole A. Ozer: When the government demands that your cell phone carrier reveal information about where you’ve been, or where you’re going to go, they should get a warrant. … Continue reading
CBS: Man beaten, three SAPD officers investigated for possible excessive force after case of ‘mistaken identity’
KENS (CBS San Antonio): Man beaten, three SAPD officers investigated for possible excessive force after case of ‘mistaken identity’ by Dillon Collier: Roger Carlos was in the 10600 block of Westover Hills Boulevard taking photos of a building that will … Continue reading
NYDN: Pregnant woman apparently put in chokehold by NYPD cop during dispute over illegal grilling
New York Daily News: Pregnant woman apparently put in chokehold by NYPD cop during dispute over illegal grilling by Tina Moore: Photos released Monday by an East New York advocacy group show Rosan Miller, 27, struggling with a cop who … Continue reading
EFF: A National Consensus: Cell Phone Location Records Are Private
EFF: A National Consensus: Cell Phone Location Records Are Private by Hanni Fakhoury: It’s clear that people consider location information-which can reveal who we associate with, our patterns of movement, and things like religion, sexual practices, and political affiliations-to remain … Continue reading
CA8: Pre-Jardines dog search at the door saved by Davis good faith; Jardines had been already argued
A drug dog alerted at defendant’s door. After the motion to suppress was filed, but before it was heard, Jardines was decided. Because Eighth Circuit precedent allowed the use of a dog at the door prior to Jardines, the Davis … Continue reading
Ars Technica: Analysis: Bill banning phone metadata collection gives NSA access to it
Ars Technica: Analysis: Bill banning phone metadata collection gives NSA access to it by David Kravets: A prominent senator unveiled legislation Tuesday that would end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of all telephone metadata—a package that still provides the … Continue reading
AOL Autoblog: UK police move to seize mobile phones after all accidents
Be thankful for the Fourth Amendment: AOL Autoblog: UK police move to seize mobile phones after all accidents by Noah Joseph: There’s little question that driving while holding your phone is incredibly dangerous. In the UK alone, some 500 people … Continue reading
Reason TV: The Drug War, the Fourth Amendment, and anal cavity searches in New Mexico
Reason TV: The Drug War, the Fourth Amendment, and anal cavity searches in New Mexico by Paul Feine and Alex Manning: On July 28, 2014, Reason TV released “Do You Have It Up Your Ass?”: Drug Warriors in New Mexico … Continue reading
TechDirt: EFF Asks Court To Declare NSA’s ‘Internet Backbone’ Collections Unconstitutional
TechDirt: EFF Asks Court To Declare NSA’s ‘Internet Backbone’ Collections Unconstitutional by Tim Cushing: This case is also at the center of the DOJ’s on-again, off-again metadata destruction plans, which ultimately resulted in the FISA court backing up the district … Continue reading
OK: Under collective knowledge, arresting officer doesn’t need all the details
Under the collective knowledge doctrine, all the details don’t have to be passed on to the arresting officer to make the arrest legal. State v. Iven, 2014 OK CR 8; 2014 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 7 (July 25, 2014). Plaintiff … Continue reading
D.Md.: Riley cell phone case has no effect on border searches of cell phones
Posted back on April 8th: “[U]nder the facts presented by this case, a forensic computer search cannot be performed under the border search doctrine in the absence of reasonable suspicion. Because the officials here reasonably suspected that Saboonchi was violating … Continue reading
The Hill: Survey: Journalists, lawyers change habits to avoid NSA snooping
The Hill: Survey: Journalists, lawyers change habits to avoid NSA snooping by Julia Hattem: A new report says government spying corrodes the way lawyers and the media work.
FL2: SW for medical records were sealed; they need to be opened for investigation but protect rights of patients
Search warrants were used to obtain patient medical records of alleged illegal pain management clinics that implicated the privacy rights of the patients, and they were sealed, amounting to an order of suppression. The circuit court is ordered to fashion … Continue reading