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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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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: November 2014
D.N.M.: Flexibility permitted in computer file searches because of ease of hiding things
A computer search warrant isn’t overbroad because it doesn’t specify the files to be searched with complete particularity. It isn’t feasible or reasonable to require it because file names and dates can be changed to hide things. United States v. … Continue reading
ACLU: Americans’ Confidence in Privacy of Electronic Communications is Very Low
ACLU: Americans’ Confidence in Privacy of Electronic Communications is Very Low by Jay Stanley: Pew has a new poll out on Americans’ attitudes toward privacy, and it is full of interesting findings. A New York Times blog piece on the … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Community caretaking entry must be objectively reasonable and still be wrong
Officers’ legitimate concerns that a person inside a house was in danger or restrained, although wrong, were reasonable, and that authorized an entry under the community caretaking function. The fact they were wrong doesn’t matter if their belief was reasonable. … Continue reading
ACLU: AT&T Comes Out in Support of Stricter Standards for Police Cell Location Phone Tracking
ACLU: AT&T Comes Out in Support of Stricter Standards for Police Cell Location Phone Tracking (press release): MIAMI – In a landmark move in the battle over privacy rights and new technologies, AT&T has filed a federal court brief arguing … Continue reading
CA4: Delousing jail inmates was reasonable strip search under Florence
Delousing male jail inmates by same sex guards was subject to qualified immunity as to them. As to injunctive relief against the agency, it is premature without further evidence being taken, and it appears reasonable as a strip search under … Continue reading
NYTimes: Privacy Concerns for Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren
NYTimes: Privacy Concerns for Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren by Natasha Singer: Many teachers say the ClassDojo app helps them automate the task of recording classroom conduct, but some critics say such apps are being adopted without enough consideration for data … Continue reading
arstechnica: Judges impose rare, stricter requirement for “stingray” use by police
arstechnica: Judges impose rare, stricter requirement for “stingray” use by police by Cyrus Farivar Washington judges: Locals cops must not collect data from innocent people. Judges in Pierce County, Washington, have now begun requiring law enforcement agencies to ask for … Continue reading
D.N.H.: Probable cause permits seizure of a cell phone and getting IMEI no. off back under Riley
Law enforcement officers with probable cause do not need a search warrant to seize a cell phone, such as in a search incident situation where they know that the phone was used to arrange drug deals, but they most probably … Continue reading
CA7: Persons tortured for confessions must sue within SOL, not wait for others
Plaintiffs claiming they were tortured for a confession by an “infamous” Chicago cop and his “henchmen” who was later convicted of doing just that could not claim equitable tolling. They had to sue based on when it happened. The case … Continue reading
TN: Officer’s lack of experience in getting a search warrant is not an “exigency” for a warrantless blood draw
The officer’s lack of experience in getting a search warrant is not an “exigency” for a warrantless blood draw under McNeely. State v. Gardner, 2014 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 1023 (November 12, 2014) (link not available when posted; go here … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: State insurance company audit complied with Fourth Amendment
The plaintiff insurance company sued the California state comptroller claiming that an audit of records would violate, among other things, the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment claim fails comparing the audit to the requirements of an administrative subpoena and the … Continue reading
CA11: Warrantless search of cell phone cured by later warrant on independent PC
The warrantless search of defendant’s cell phone had plenty of independent probable cause for later issuance of state and federal search warrants for it. “Additionally, the evidence relayed above was not obtained via any police misconduct but, rather, was obtained … Continue reading
TX13: Neither automobile exception nor search incident permit warrantless blood draw for DUI
Exigent circumstances didn’t justify the warrantless blood draw. Neither the automobile exception nor the search incident doctrine can be used to search a person’s blood. Smith v. State, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 12372 (Tex. App.– Corpus Christi-Edinburg November 13, 2014):
N.D.Cal.: Rule 17 subpoena for police S&S manuals wasn’t relevant to suppression hearing
A defense Rule 17 subpoena to the SFPD for its search and seizure procedure manuals is quashed. The Fourth Amendment question is objective reasonableness, and that stuff isn’t going to aid the court. United States v. Johnson, 2014 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
OH: At the time the GPS was installed, SCOTUS authority at least “suggested” in Knotts and Karo that it was constitutional, and that’s good enough for government work
At the time the GPS was put on defendant’s car, SCOTUS authority at least “suggested” in Knotts and Karo, before GPS was even envisioned, that it was constitutional, and that’s good enough for government work. The Davis good faith exception … Continue reading
Vocativ: Is Your Police Force Wearing Body Cameras?
Vocativ: Is Your Police Force Wearing Body Cameras? by EJ Fox and Abigail Tracy: Vocativ reached out to police departments in the 100 biggest U.S. cities to determine who’s using body cam technology. While the numbers are increasing, cops still … Continue reading
WaPo: D.C. police plan for future seizure proceeds years in advance in city budget documents
WaPo: D.C. police plan for future seizure proceeds years in advance in city budget documents by Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Steven Rich: This is the sixth installment in the “Stop and Seize” investigative series. D.C. police have made plans for … Continue reading
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, 132 S. Ct. 1510 (2012)
Two of this week’s Texas McNeely opinions
Defendant’s warrantless blood draw was without exigent circumstances after he withdrew his consent. The motion to suppress should have been granted. Leal v. State, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 12286 (Tex. App. – Houston (14th Dist) November 13, 2014) (with dissent).* … Continue reading
WI decides important Email SW case: Fourth Amendment doesn’t require a higher standard for email warrants
Email search warrants in a public corruption case were “particular” within the Fourth Amendment. They were time limited, and the providers deleted electronic information [header information] from the final production that was not specifically sought. The Fourth Amendment does not … Continue reading