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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: September 2015
KS: After suppression and affirmance on appeal, law of the case bars state from relitigating search after recharging
After the state lost a motion to suppress and an interlocutory appeal, it admittedly manipulated a recharging to get a second suppression hearing. The first was law of the case. “The doctrine of law of the case prevents a party … Continue reading
The Nation: Think Police Can’t Use Illegally Obtained Evidence Against You? Think Again.
The Nation: Think Police Can’t Use Illegally Obtained Evidence Against You? Think Again. by Paul Butler: Hudson v. Michigan is one in a series of cases in which the Roberts Court has blessed police officers with extraordinary power. This power … Continue reading
CSMonitor: Does the spread of body cameras signal a rapid erosion of privacy?
CSMonitor: Does the spread of body cameras signal a rapid erosion of privacy? by Lucy Schouten: Ubiquitous surveillance has long been the stuff of speculative and dystopian fiction, but as use of body cameras by police rises, so do questions … Continue reading
CA5: No RS for stopping an older just licensed car on I-10
Defendant’s traffic stop was based on the fact his older vehicle had just been registered and he was driving between Houston and San Antonio. The officer found a 14 year old drug arrest. It should have been apparent that defendant … Continue reading
FL2: PC to arrest included knowledge of evidence on iPhone, so phone could be seized on exigent circumstances
Police had probable cause to arrest defendant for sex offenses with children, and the PC included the fact that his smartphone contained images of the crimes. When he was arrested, there was exigency for seizing his cell phone pending a … Continue reading
W.D.Wis.: The court can take judicial notice of the reliability of GPS for probable cause
The court can take judicial notice of the reliability of GPS for probable cause. Here the question was probable cause for the arrest of a bank robbery suspect based on GPS tracking of the bait money. United States v. Mitchell, … Continue reading
The Hill: TSA sued over full-body X-ray scanners
The Hill: TSA sued over full-body X-ray scanners by Keith Laing: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is being sued over the controversial full-body X-ray scanners it uses at airport security checkpoints across the country. The lawsuit, from the Competitive Enterprise … Continue reading
Atlantic (via NextGov): All the Ways the Government Can Use Your Phone to Watch You
Atlantic (via NextGov): All the Ways the Government Can Use Your Phone to Watch You by Robinson Meyer: Last week, the state of cellphone tracking became slightly more confusing. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that, except in emergency situations, … Continue reading
DE: Reasonable to order all passengers out during a stop of the car and show IDs
It is reasonable during a traffic stop to order all the passengers out of a car and ask for their IDs and this is not a seizure beyond the initial traffic stop itself. Reasonable suspicion developed after that for a … Continue reading
OK: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to obstruction during arguably unjustified traffic stop
Defendant turned left without a signal, and the state statute required that it have a potential “affect” on traffic. Because the police car was the only other car around, and Heien was decided after the traffic stop, the court can’t … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: BOLO not PC, but it is RS; because of gun in car, it was reasonable to handcuff
No case says that a BOLO alone is probable cause, and the collective knowledge must still be considered. In this case, the collective knowledge did not provide probable cause. While the officer had the subjective intent to arrest defendant, that’s … Continue reading
CA5: School’s coercively obtaining social media password was protected by QI because it wasn’t firmly established at the time
A teacher and school officials coercively obtained plaintiff’s social media password because of alleged threatening messages. As First and Fourth Amendment rights, this right was not firmly established at the time, and defendants thus had no firm notice that their … Continue reading
WaPo: Obama faces growing momentum to support widespread encryption
WaPo: Obama faces growing momentum to support widespread encryption by Ellen Nakashima and Andrea Peterson: White House officials have backed away from seeking a legislative fix to deal with the rise of encryption on communication devices, and they are even … Continue reading
Gov’t Technology: Is Your Phone’s GPS Protected by the Fourth Amendment?
Gov’t Technology: Is Your Phone’s GPS Protected by the Fourth Amendment? by the Free Press, Kinston, N.C. In North Carolina, the answer is no.
IL: Trial court should have suppressed; officer said he smelled MJ but drug dog did not alert and another officer did not smell it
The trial court erred in not suppressing the defendant’s search. The officer’s testimony that he smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle when he began talking to defendant was not credible. Also, the officer still sought consent to search the vehicle,* … Continue reading
IL: Refusal of consent to a parole search is a violation of parole conditions in itself
Under Illinois law, refusal of consent to a parole search is a violation of parole conditions in itself. That did not make the consent invalid. The court was entitled to believe he consented knowing that he had 800 g of … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: When a cotenant with authority consents, the officers do not have to seek out the “target” for his consent
When a cotenant with authority consents, the officers do not have to seek out the “target” for his consent, too. United States v. Morales, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125085 (S.D.Fla. September 18, 2015), R&R 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125086 (S.D.Fla. … Continue reading
VA: Smell of MJ from apartment led to knock-and-talk and exigency
Officers on bike patrol encountered the strong smell of burning marijuana, and they quickly were able to pinpoint the location as defendant’s apartment. They went to the door for a knock-and-talk and defendant’s mother answered the door. They explained why … Continue reading
NC: CSLI that was 5-7 minutes old when received was not “real time” information, so PC and a warrant not required
Cell site location information that was sent to the police periodically that was tracking the defendant was not “real time” information when it was 5-7 minutes old when received. Thus, a warrant on probable cause was not required. State v. … Continue reading
IN: A protective sweep was justified when officers were told they were alone in a house and another man was glimpsed
Officers acting on a drug tip conducted surveillance of a home. They finally came for a knock-and-talk and were admitted by somebody with apparent authority. Once inside, officers were told the people they saw in the living room were all … Continue reading