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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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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: January 2015
NPR: Police Departments Issuing Body Cameras Discover Drawbacks
NPR: Police Departments Issuing Body Cameras Discover Drawbacks by Martin Kaste: Wearable video cameras are fast becoming standard-issue gear for American police. The cameras promise a technological answer to complaints about racial bias and excessive force. But in fact, the … Continue reading
OH9: Where purpose of stop almost immediately ended, questioning driver about drugs was unreasonable
While surveilling a drug house, officer stopped defendant’s car because the officer recognized the passenger and that there was a warrant out for the passenger’s arrest. After arresting the passenger, the officer unnecessarily questioned the defendant driver about drugs and … Continue reading
GA: No apparent authority to consent to search of roommate’s locked bedroom door where no key
Defendant lived with his uncle, and he kept the door to his bedroom locked. The officers could not objectively rely on the uncle’s consent where he had no key, and officers had to use a knife to jimmy the door … Continue reading
NC: While watching a house just before SW execution in a drug case, transfer of boxes between cars was RS for visitor’s car
Reasonable suspicion here came from the fact that defendant transferred boxes from the vehicle of a target of a search warrant to his own while officers were watching, warrant in hand. His driving wasn’t evasive, and he likely didn’t even … Continue reading
Courthouse News Service: L.A. County Warrant System Needs Fixing
Courthouse News Service: L.A. County Warrant System Needs Fixing by Mat Reynolds: LOS ANGELES (CN) – A federal judge is poised to address a longstanding problem in the Los Angeles County warrant system that incarcerates thousands of innocent people, and … Continue reading
WaPo: The Supreme Court’s massive blind spot
WaPo: The Supreme Court’s massive blind spot by Radley Balko: This term, the Supreme Court heard two cases involving the actions of police officers during traffic stops. How the court comes down on the two cases will likely have significant … Continue reading
Reason.com: Sotomayor to Justice Department Lawyer: ‘We Can’t Keep Bending the Fourth Amendment to the Resources of Law Enforcement’
Reason.com: Sotomayor to Justice Department Lawyer: ‘We Can’t Keep Bending the Fourth Amendment to the Resources of Law Enforcement’ by Damon Root: Sonia Sotomayor stands up for the Fourth Amendment in drug-sniffing dog case.
OH12: LEO use of the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System does not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy
Law enforcement use of the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System does not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy or the doctor-patient privilege. Here, a police officer was investigated for doctor shopping to obtain schedule III and IV drugs from multiple … Continue reading
Courthouse News Service: Justices Weigh How Long is Too Long to Wait on K-9
Courthouse News Service: Justices Weigh How Long is Too Long to Wait on K-9 by Lorraine Bailey: The Supreme Court on Wednesday debated whether prolonging a traffic stop to allow police to conduct a K-9 dog sniff violates the driver’s … Continue reading
Guardian: Justice Department settles case after DEA set up fake Facebook page in woman’s name
Guardian: Justice Department settles case after DEA set up fake Facebook page in woman’s name Deal comes after federal drug agents used information from New York woman’s cellphone to set up a fake Facebook page in her name
WaPo: How much civil asset forfeiture will Holder’s new policy actually prevent?
WaPo: How much civil asset forfeiture will Holder’s new policy actually prevent? by Radley Balko: “It will probably affect no more than 6 percent of revenue from such cases.”
NY Times: $447,000 Seized by Government Will Be Returned to Business
NY Times: $447,000 Seized by Government Will Be Returned to Business by Shiela Dewan: Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney for New York’s Eastern District and President Obama’s nominee for attorney general, signed off on Tuesday to a settlement … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Def’s stop was without RS on the totality
Officers drove into the parking lot of an extended stay hotel in Dallas known for its being a high crime area. Defendant was first seen peeking out a propped open door at the end of the building. The officers circled … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Emergency lights alone doesn’t prove a “stop”; defendant was already parked
Defendant was already parked, so he wasn’t stopped, and the officer’s use of the emergency lights on his police car are not determinative of whether there was a “stop.” There was no display of weapons, touching of defendant, no coercive … Continue reading
UT: Attenuation doctrine must ultimately bottom on inevitable discovery
Under the attenuation doctrine, incorporating a proximate cause analysis, inevitable discovery must ultimately control where there is both lawful and unlawful police action. State v. Strieff, 2015 UT 2, 2015 Utah LEXIS 4 (January 16, 2015):
SCOTUSBlog: Argument preview: Dog sniffs and traffic stops – once more to the Fourth Amendment well
SCOTUSBlog: Argument preview: Dog sniffs and traffic stops – once more to the Fourth Amendment well by Rory Little: Prior decisions of the Supreme Court addressing the constitutionality of the use of narcotics-sniffing dogs versus other law enforcement techniques have … Continue reading
WaPo: Law enforcement is getting new surveillance tools. But they don’t always want to talk about them
WaPo: Law enforcement is getting new surveillance tools. But they don’t always want to talk about them by Andrea Peterson: At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies are using hand-held radar to “see” the inside of houses, USA Today reports. … Continue reading
Salon: Supreme Court’s police debacle: How it quietly helped cops prey on poor people
Salon: Supreme Court’s police debacle: How it quietly helped cops prey on poor people by Seth Morris: In December, in the midst of nationwide protests drawing attention to the broken relationship between the police and communities of color, the Supreme … Continue reading
HotHardware: FBI Wants The Legal Right To Hack You If You’re On A TOR Or VPN Connection
HotHardware: FBI Wants The Legal Right To Hack You If You’re On A TOR Or VPN Connection by Rob Williams:
D.Mass.: No RS for stop; court disagrees with case it has to follow
The officer had just less than reasonable suspicion under binding authority that this judge doesn’t agree with, so the motion to suppress is reluctantly granted. United States v. Smith, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5512 (D. Mass. January 16, 2015)*: