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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: June 2015
IL: “Premises known as xxx Street” in SW included detached garage on the curtilage
“[C]ourts have repeatedly and routinely held that a warrant that authorizes the search of ‘premises’ at a given residential address allows the search of detached garages, sheds, and other outbuildings even if these separate structures are not mentioned at all … Continue reading
OR: Prying open glove box without RS suppressed
Defendant’s stop was unlawfully extended without reasonable suspicion. In an area known for gang activity where there was a party attended by gang members known to be armed, officers surrounded defendant’s car on a parking lot where she hadn’t paid … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Detail alone in hearsay from an untested informant is not enough to make probable cause
With an untested and unknown informant, detail alone is not enough because detail can be made up, too. Thus, this affidavit lacks probable cause. Nevertheless, the good faith exception will sustain it. United States v. Martin, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
IN: Officers listened in to attorney-client meeting in interrogation room; that’s suppressed, but officers shouldn’t be barred from any testimony at trial
Defendant met in a police interrogation room with his lawyer, and the police turned off the recorder, but three listened in to the conversation through the wall. The superior officer actually self-reported the misconduct. Defendant moved to suppress what they … Continue reading
The Hill: House votes to further rein in NSA, in sign of continued momentum
The Hill: House votes to further rein in NSA, in sign of continued momentum by Julian Hattem: House lawmakers voted to further rein in the nation’s spies on Thursday, in a signal that legislators aren’t yet done reforming surveillance law. … Continue reading
Exaggeration of the week: The group that gave us the USA PATRIOT Act claims the Fourth Amendment
CHQ: Conservatism: A better future for American liberty, prosperity and security: Two issues being hotly contested at the national level this year — government collection of private records as debated through the Patriot Act sunset provision, and the definition of … Continue reading
OH9: Def’s innocent explanations don’t per se undermine reasonable suspicion
Defendant’s innocent explanations for being in the parking lot in a high crime area don’t undermine the officer’s reasonable suspicion developed at the time. State v. Starr, 2015-Ohio-2193, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 2113 (9th Dist. June 8, 2015).* The probation … Continue reading
FL2: State “protective custody” doesn’t permit search incident; entry into jail here, however, made it valid
When defendant was taken into “protective custody” under state law as drug impaired, his backpack couldn’t be searched incident to arrest because it’s not an arrest. However, he ended up at the jail, and an inventory at the jail was … Continue reading
D.Mass.: “Business records, as a class, are repositories of historical facts and, therefore, are largely immune from claims of staleness.”
In an ongoing drug conspiracy with money laundering, a broader time period is permitted in the business records to be seized by a warrant. “Business records, as a class, are repositories of historical facts and, therefore, are largely immune from … Continue reading
techdirt: Because The 4th Amendment Only Kicks In After The Fact, ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ Will Always Be Anything But
techdirt: Because The 4th Amendment Only Kicks In After The Fact, ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ Will Always Be Anything But by Tim Cushing: A few weeks ago, we wrote about a young man who had $16,000 “forfeited” to DEA agents while riding … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Borrower of a car has standing to challenge its search
Following cases from other circuits, since this circuit hasn’t ruled, the borrower of a car has standing to challenge its search. The traffic stop was justified, and reasonable suspicion developed thereafter. United States v. Baker, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73856 … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Charged, but yet unproved, conduct can appear in a search warrant affidavit
There were four GPS warrants on the defendant’s car, owned by his wife, June-October 2014, renewed in state court every 30 days. The court can’t conclude they were started on stale information since it referred to an ongoing drug operation. … Continue reading
Just Security: The (Telephony) Matrix Reloaded
Just Security: The (Telephony) Matrix Reloaded by Julian Sanchez:
E.D.N.Y.: Overseizure of emails did not void the search warrant; some overseizure necessary for a proper investigation
A judge in the E.D.N.Y. may issue a search warrant for emails on Yahoo!’s email server in California under Rule 41 and the Stored Communications Act. The warrant was broad in its particularity, but still constitutional. The warrant lawfully included … Continue reading
CA2: Warrant said Apt. 2, but officers determined Apt. 1 was correct; search of Apt. 1 was thus warrantless and not in good faith
The search warrant said Apartment 2. The officers searched Apartment 1 because that turned out to be the target apartment. That was a warrantless search. The warrant did not say “Bershchansky’s apartment” or the “one on the right.” The good … Continue reading
techdirt: FISA Court Asked To Shut Down Bulk Collection Of Phone Records During Transition To USA Freedom Act
techdirt: FISA Court Asked To Shut Down Bulk Collection Of Phone Records During Transition To USA Freedom Act by Tim Cushing:
D.Mont.: Mother couldn’t consent to adult son’s room; not reasonable for police to believe she had apparent authority
Mother could not consent to search of adult son’s room. “This court is less persuaded by the presumption of control given to parents in Rith when the child at issue has been an adult for over two decades.” “Based on … Continue reading
NYLJ: How Has Digital Ubiquity Affected Fourth Amendment Law?
NYLJ: How Has Digital Ubiquity Affected Fourth Amendment Law? by Richard Raysman & Peter Brown: