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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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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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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Section 1983 Blog -
"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 2015
CT Law Tribune: Lawsuit Accuses Police of Touching Private Parts During Pat Downs
CT Law Tribune: Lawsuit Accuses Police of Touching Private Parts During Pat Downs by Amaris Elliott-Engel: When two black brothers were pulled over by a cop in the city of New London, the officer frisked them both, allegedly touching their … Continue reading
D.Md.: Blanket suppression reserved for flagrant cases; this isn’t
The search warrant didn’t specify that cash was subject to seizure, but it reasonably falls within evidence of the subject matter of the search warrant. To exclude the cash would be a “hypertechnical” suppression argument. Moreover, blanket suppression is reserved … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Officer’s failure to learn about Jones GPS ruling warranted suppression; “When police exhibit ‘deliberate,’ ‘reckless,’ or ‘grossly negligent’ disregard for Fourth Amendment rights, the benefits of exclusion tend to outweigh the costs.”–Davis
The officer’s failure to learn about Jones justified suppression of planting a GPS device nearly two years after it was decided. Officers have a duty to keep up with the law to claim good faith. Defendant’s disclaiming a cell phone … Continue reading
CA2: A can in a brown paper bag justified a drinking in public stop; just because it might have been a soft drink isn’t determinative
The district court erred in suppressing a stop by a parole officer of a parolee walking down the street with an apparent beer can in a brown paper bag that concealed what it was. Just because it could have been … Continue reading
Cal.2d: SW for records and computers in 23 year old cold case was not stale, and GFE applied
This is a 1986 cold murder case solved in 2009 by DNA involving the killing by an LAPD officer of the wife of her lover at the time. All the forensics were retested with current DNA techniques and sent to … Continue reading
Daily News: Cameras showing cops in action are bringing changes to policing
Daily News: Cameras showing cops in action are bringing changes to policing by Tina Moore: Amateur filmmakers have been cataloguing police activity across the country, bringing light to events that likely would have stayed in the shadows and forcing departments … Continue reading
The Atlantic: How Aggressive Policing Affects Police Officers Themselves
The Atlantic: How Aggressive Policing Affects Police Officers Themselves by Saki Knafo: One of the questions at the heart of the national debate over race and policing is why minorities are routinely arrested for petty offenses—drinking on the sidewalk, hanging … Continue reading
WaPo: New article: “Executing Warrants for Digital Evidence: The Case for Use Restrictions on Nonresponsive Data”
WaPo: New article: “Executing Warrants for Digital Evidence: The Case for Use Restrictions on Nonresponsive Data” by Orin Kerr: I recently posted a new draft article, “Executing Warrants for Digital Evidence: The Case for Use Restrictions on Nonresponsive Data.” The … Continue reading
OH, Cuyahoga Co.: Finding of justification in the police criminal case over shooting into the car from the hood
The findings of fact and conclusions of law on the justification for the Russell police killing in Cleveland after a police chase, published on Lexis on Friday. Interesting parallels to last SCOTUS term’s Plumhoff case. State v. Brelo, 2015 Ohio … Continue reading
SC: Knock and talk requires reasonable suspicion under state law
A knock and talk is a legitimate law enforcement technique implicitly recognized in Jardines. (“We have accordingly recognized that ‘the knocker on the front door is treated as an invitation or license to attempt an entry, justifying ingress to the … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: One minute of furtive movements in a car before getting out during a stop was cause for a search of the car
Defendant drove .9 miles after police lights and the siren came on, and that was probable cause for evading a law enforcement officer and that was cause for a search of the car after defendant made furtive movements in the … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Talking about using drug dog in def’s presence was not “interrogation”
Discussing in defendant’s presence that they were going to use a drug dog as a part of their search was not “interrogation” under Innis. “Here, the conduct of the officers in discussing their investigation within hearing range of the defendant … Continue reading
ars technica: Here are EFF’s most influential cases from its first 25 years
ars technica: Here are EFF’s most influential cases from its first 25 years by Cyrus Farivar: According to Executive Director Cindy Cohn, these are EFF’s greatest hits. On Friday, July 10, the Electronic Frontier Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary. The … Continue reading
The Atlantic: Keep Body Cameras Off Public-School Educators
The Atlantic: Keep Body Cameras Off Public-School Educators by Conor Freidersdorf: An Iowa school district is among the first in the nation to outfit its principals with the devices.
NY3: Car on impound lot could be searched under automobile exception hours after the seizure where there was PC
The search of a car on a police impound lot hours after it was involved in an accident was proper under the automobile exception. People v. Hoffman, 2015 NY Slip Op 05976, 2015 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5844 (3d Dept. … Continue reading
OR: “Right result, wrong reason” doctrine cannot apply to save a search where the defense wasn’t given a chance to litigate that ground below
“Right result, wrong reason” doctrine cannot apply to save a search where the defense wasn’t given a chance to litigate that ground below. State v. Booth, 272 Ore. App. 192 (July 8, 2015). Defendant was a gay man stopped by … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: A sweep upstairs was justified by voices, even though it turned out to be a TV set
The officer’s testimony about exigent circumstances is credited. It was also reasonable for an officer to go upstairs for a sweep after hearing a voice, even though that voice turned out to be from a television set. United States v. … Continue reading
CA4: Seizure of things not specified in the SW is not necessarily a constitutional violation; depends on wording of SW
The fact some things were seized beyond the face of the warrant does not state a § 1983 claim. “Although some of the personal property seized was not listed in the search warrants, we find no error in the district … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Dog sniff at the front door of a specific apartment unit qualified for curtilage under Jardines
A dog sniff at the front door of a specific apartment unit qualified for curtilage under Jardines. The policy reasons behind it still apply to a particular apartment’s door. Nonetheless, there was some other information on which the officers relied, … Continue reading
Tucson Sentinel: Judge OKs suit by family of Mexican teen fatally shot by border agent
Tucson Sentinel: Judge OKs suit by family of Mexican teen fatally shot by border agent by Paul Ingram: A federal judge ruled Thursday that a Mexican teenager was entitled to civil rights under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution … Continue reading