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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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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)
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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: September 2014
IN still doesn’t recognize the attenuation doctrine
The attenuation doctrine does not apply to violations of the Indiana Constitution. Admittedly, the search of defendant’s vehicle was unlawful, and a receipt found was followed back to video of the transaction. Indiana hasn’t yet adopted inevitable discovery under the … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: A police officer walking toward you is not necessarily a seizure
Defendant was not seized when a police officer parked in front of him without turning on toplights and walked back. Then defendant fled. United States v. Cameron, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122726 (S.D. Fla. September 3, 2014):
SW Times Record: iPhone Photo Leads To Settlement Against Sheriff’s Deputy
SW Times Record: iPhone Photo Leads To Settlement Against Sheriff’s Deputy by Jeff Arnold: Although the settlement language allows him to claim no fault, a Sebastian County sheriff’s deputy recently accepted an almost $40,000 judgment against him instead of going … Continue reading
Politico: Uphill battle on police militarization
Politico: Uphill battle on police militarization by Byron Tau: Police leadership is often fiercely protective of the right to run their departments as they please. Police crowd-control techniques and military-like equipment used in response to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, following … Continue reading
WaPo: Stop and Seize (3 parts) — The drug war moves to cash
Part 1 Stop and seize Part 2 Police intelligence targets cash Part 3 They fought the law. Who won?
NYTimes: Police Armored Vehicle Is Unwelcome in California College Town
NYTimes: Police Armored Vehicle Is Unwelcome in California College Town by Adam Nagourney: DAVIS, Calif. — The police department of this modest college town is among the latest California beneficiaries of surplus military equipment: a $700,000 armored car that is … Continue reading
Politico: Feds release guidance on police body cameras
Politico: Feds release guidance on police body cameras by Tal Kopan: Body-worn cameras on police officers can increase accountability of police and improve evidence gathering, but if departments are going to use them they must address concerns of officers and … Continue reading
Law.com: Wearables, Gunshots and the Next Frontier in Probation
Law.com: Wearables, Gunshots and the Next Frontier in Probation It may be possible to employ wearable technology to recognize signals of firearm use.
D.Minn.: Trace evidence on a firearm justified DNA sample from defendant
A search warrant was properly issued for defendant’s DNA to attempt to link him to firearms found in the take down of a heroin operation. There was probable cause for the warrant and trace evidence was found. In any event, … Continue reading
CNET: California bill would ban police drone spying without warrant
CNET: California bill would ban police drone spying without warrant by Daniel Terdiman: The bill, which is now on the governor’s desk, pits privacy advocates against law enforcement interests in managing the emerging technology.
Center for Democracy & Technology: Yahoo Court Documents Reveal Pitched Battle Over Surveillance Power
Center for Democracy & Technology: Yahoo Court Documents Reveal Pitched Battle Over Surveillance Power by Harley Geiger: Documents released yesterday as a result of litigation brought by Yahoo show how the court charged with assessing government intelligence surveillance requests secretly … Continue reading
Slate: Sotomayor Concerned About Drones and Privacy, Says You Should Be Too
Slate: Sotomayor Concerned About Drones and Privacy, Says You Should Be Too by Lily Hay Newman: Justice Sonia Sotomayor told law students and faculty at Oklahoma City University on Thursday that Americans should be feeling very concerned about the potential … Continue reading
Cal.2d & SD: Pre-McNeely warrantless blood draws saved by Davis GFE
A 2011 DWI blood draw that today would violate McNeely is saved by the Davis good faith exception. People v. Youn, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 799 (2d Dist. August 15, 2014), ordered published September 5, 2014. The pre-McNeely warrantless blood … Continue reading
OH2: Failure to mention an expired CCW permit justified search [?]
The fact defendant was known to have an expired concealed carry permit was reason enough to detain him when he failed to tell the officer he had a CCW permit. [If it’s expired, then he doesn’t have one?] State v. … Continue reading
NE: Anonymous call here too thin to base a stop
An anonymous call without anything really supporting a crime was an insufficient basis for a stop. State v. Rodriguez, 288 Neb. 878, 2014 Neb. LEXIS 139 (August 29, 2014): In Navarette and White, the investigatory stops were approved, but both … Continue reading
CA10: Defendant abandoned carry-on luggage by disclaiming ownership
In a case involving use of a drug dog on a Greyhound bus in Utah, a drug dog alerted on a bag in the luggage compartment. In the passenger compartment, the defendant disclaimed ownership of a bag in the overhead … Continue reading
NC: ABC license permitted search of attached residence accessible directly by a door
Defendant’s home was attached to his liquor store, and ABC officers were permitted under their inspection power to inspect the residence as well which was accessible merely through a door. Inside the residence they could smell marijuana. One room of … Continue reading
CA10: Defendant abandoned carry-on luggage by disclaiming ownership
In a case involving use of a drug dog on a Greyhound bus in Utah, a drug dog alerted on a bag in the luggage compartment. In the passenger compartment, the defendant disclaimed ownership of a bag in the overhead … Continue reading
Cal.4th: “A partially open door by itself is not probable cause justifying warrantless search or seizure in a residence”
One man was stripping insulation from copper wire in front of a house. The door to the house was partially open. The police thought that a burglary was in progress. They made no effort to determine whether the person in … Continue reading