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- CA10: SW for gun three weeks after road rage incident wasn’t stale
- OH10: Parole search of cell phone can occur even when it’s taken from the property room at jail
- TX14: No REP in location information on bondsman’s GPS monitor
- W.D.N.Y.: No IAC for not challenging search without standing
- CAAF: Victim’s 4A rights were at issue, too
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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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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) -
“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: August 2015
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Judge overturns 4th case involving former narcotics detective
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Judge overturns 4th case involving former narcotics detective by Brandon Shelletta: Recently released from prison, Deunte Humphries was back before a Richmond judge Wednesday. But this time, instead of a sentence, he received an apology. Humphries served a … Continue reading
WaPo: Radley Balko’s ‘The Watch’ Blog: Police cameras without transparency
WaPo: Radley Balko’s ‘The Watch’ Blog: Police cameras without transparency: Cops who don’t turn their cameras on when they’re supposed to need to be punished. Video needs to be made available to the public, albeit with certain provisions to protect … Continue reading
MN: Likelihood defendant would be flown to trauma center was exigency for warrantless blood draw
The seriousness of defendant’s injuries made his DUI blood draw exigent. It was likely he would be flown by helicopter to a trauma hospital shortly. State v. Stavish, 2015 Minn. LEXIS 470 (August 19, 2015):
OR: Search incident to arrest warrant found on unlawful detention suppressed; no attenuation
An unlawful detention without reasonable suspicion led to a warrants check, finding a warrant, and then a search. Since the stop was unreasonable, the finding of the warrant could not be attenuated from it. State v. Benning, 273 Ore. App. … Continue reading
WaPo: FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones
WaPo: FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones By Craig Whitlock: Before last year, close encounters with rogue drones were unheard of. But as a result of a sales boom, small, largely unregulated remote-control aircraft are … Continue reading
The Independent: The US government has begun trialling methods to disable and track commercial drones
The Independent: The US government has begun trialling methods to disable and track commercial drones by Doug Bolton: The US government is conducting tests into ways to disable and track drones that may infiltrate sensitive sites.
ars technica: Forget license plate readers on police cars, how about on garbage trucks?
ars technica: Forget license plate readers on police cars, how about on garbage trucks? by Cyrus Farivar: San Jose, California, America’s 10th largest city, isn’t just content to put license plate readers on police cars anymore—rather, it now wants to … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy’ Blog: Man vs. drone, vs. the law
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy’ Blog: Man vs. drone, vs. the law by Eugene Volokh: Perhaps the law should be different, and photographing someone in a public place from a close enough distance should generally be illegal. (Certainly many movie stars beset … Continue reading
techdirt: DC Mayor Reverses Course On Body Cam Footage, Opens Up Recordings To Citizens And Researchers
techdirt: DC Mayor Reverses Course On Body Cam Footage, Opens Up Recordings To Citizens And Researchers by Tim Cushing: Back in April of this year, Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser sided with the city’s law enforcement against transparency and accountability. … Continue reading
CA6: “In this respect, we must be mindful of the particular exigencies presented to the officers, who must make decisions to safeguard their own and the public’s safety under the fog of rapidly developing situations and without the luxury of complete information.”
Individually, none of the factors of reasonable suspicion was enough, but collectively they were. “In this respect, we must be mindful of the particular exigencies presented to the officers, who must make decisions to safeguard their own and the public’s … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Arguing for trespass rather than the reasonable expectation of privacy standard doesn’t enhance the likelihood of showing standing
Arguing for trespass rather than the reasonable expectation of privacy standard doesn’t enhance the likelihood of showing standing. “Proceeding under the trespass theory, rather than the reasonable expectation of privacy theory, defendants have not demonstrated that they have a possessory … Continue reading
techdirt: Court Says Government Has To Reveal If It Kept The Data From The DEA’s Mass Surveillance Program
techdirt: Court Says Government Has To Reveal If It Kept The Data From The DEA’s Mass Surveillance Program by Mike Masnick: Back in April, USA Today had a detailed report on a massive DEA phone records surveillance program that pre-dated … Continue reading
NJ: A vacated warrant not yet removed from computer system could not be relied on in good faith (3-3)
Affirming the Appellate Division by an equally divided vote: the arresting officer’s good faith belief that a valid warrant for defendant’s arrest was outstanding cannot render an arrest made in the absence of a valid warrant or probable cause constitutionally … Continue reading
MO: State investigative subpoena for bank and insurance records didn’t violate Fourth Amendment or statute
Defendant was convicted of murdering her husband. The state collected bank and insurance records by investigative subpoena, and her Fourth Amendment rights were not violated by lack of notice to her, seizure of the records, or failure to have an … Continue reading
D.Colo.: Motion for return of property denied until post-conviction process over
Defendants moved for return of their property after conviction and the appeal was affirmed. The government gets to keep it pending conclusion of any collateral review which might be filed. United States v. Banks, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107994 (D.Colo. … Continue reading
IA: No REP when in custody on a civil commitment order
Defendant was picked up on an involuntary commitment order for drug addiction, and she was brought to a hospital and locked in a room. She was directed to dress out into a hospital gown to go to the psychiatric floor, … Continue reading
IA: Def counsel not charged with anticipating changes in law; no IAC for not arguing an issue adopted two years after appeal
Defense counsel was not ineffective for not arguing an issue that was not decided for the defense under the state constitution until two years after his appeal was decided. Counsel is not charged with anticipating changes in the law under … Continue reading
N.D.Fla.: Showing up at a prearranged drop point, a motel room, was RS
Showing up at a prearranged drop point, a motel room, was reasonable suspicion that the defendant was there with the drugs. United States v. Mendoza, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109526 (N.D.Fla. August 18, 2015).* A worker’s gesture was not consent … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Riley doesn’t require SW for parole search of cell phone
Riley doesn’t apply to a parole search of a cell phone because of the defendant waiving his Fourth Amendment rights by accepting parole. United States v. Johnson, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106925 (N.D.Cal. August 13, 2015). Even though the patdown … Continue reading
CA9: SCOTUS has never adopted trespass as a sole ground for a Fourth Amendment violation
Entry into the public areas of a motel where low income persons lived to look for code violations did not violate the Fourth Amendment. There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in those places, and the court declines to adopt … Continue reading