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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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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)
ACLU on privacy
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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: November 2015
NYTimes: Opinions: Can Predictive Policing Be Ethical and Effective?
NYTimes: Opinions: Can Predictive Policing Be Ethical and Effective? More police departments are trying to predict crime through computer analysis of data, part of the growing trend of using algorithms to analyze human behavior. Advocates say this approach focuses on … Continue reading
Techdirt: Manhattan DA’s Office Serves Up Craptastic White Paper Asking For A Ban On Encryption
Techdirt: Manhattan DA’s Office Serves Up Craptastic White Paper Asking For A Ban On Encryption by Tim Cushing:
NPR: When Prisoners Email Their Lawyers, It’s Often Not Confidential
NPR: When Prisoners Email Their Lawyers, It’s Often Not Confidential by Joel Rose:
NY Times: Editorial: Mass Surveillance Isn’t the Answer to Fighting Terrorism
NY Times: Editorial: Mass Surveillance Isn’t the Answer to Fighting Terrorism It’s a wretched yet predictable ritual after each new terrorist attack: Certain politicians and government officials waste no time exploiting the tragedy for their own ends. The remarks on … Continue reading
NPR: Paris Attacks Bring Domestic Surveillance Into Presidential Race
NPR: Paris Attacks Bring Domestic Surveillance Into Presidential Race by Scott Detrow
CA10: Arrest of an entire police tactical unit for thefts during searches was protected by qualified immunity for the half found innocent
A group of officers alleged to have been stealing during search warrant execution was all arrested, but the arrest was over inclusive, nabbing some innocents. “These consolidated cases arise from a sting operation designed to determine if police officers in … Continue reading
CA10: A federal warrantless search release condition requires particular findings
A district court may impose a warrantless search condition for supervised release if it makes findings. “The text of [18 U.S.C.] § 3583(d) does not limit the possibility of a warrantless-search condition to felons required to register under SORNA. Indeed, … Continue reading
IN: Officer’s stop for no paper license except in rear window was unreasonable because it was now lawful to have it there
State law had changed a year before defendant’s stop to allow for temporary plates to be hung in the rear window. Defendant was stopped for no license plate. As the officer approached, he could see a plate in the rear … Continue reading
D.Md.: On a stop with RS of having a gun, search of a cigarette pack exceeded Terry
The officer likely didn’t have reasonable suspicion of a man with a gun when the encounter started, but defendant’s furtive movements gave reasonable suspicion. When defendant was stopped, the officer’s search of a cigarette box on the car’s floor exceeded … Continue reading
TX1: On a remand for entry of findings of fact, a new hearing should not have been held
The court of appeals remanded this case for entering findings of fact and conclusions of law so the appeal could be decided. It was not authorized to conduct a further hearing after the record was logged, so it could not … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: No trespassing sign but gate not closed did not create trespass for knock-and-talk
“When law enforcement officers, without a warrant, enter a homeowner’s fenced property through a partially open gate with a ‘No Trespassing’ sign posted on the fence nearby, and then proceed through an unlocked screen door onto an enclosed front porch … Continue reading
WaPo: Editorial: Another senseless death in police custody
WaPo: Editorial: Another senseless death in police custody: Video footage of the incident, released recently by a judge’s order and reported in depth by MSNBC, suggests it is a case study in abuse by police ignorant of best practices in … Continue reading
OH12: Passenger’s nervous behavior more significant than driver’s
Defendant was not a listed driver on the rental agreement and he failed to keep eye contact with the officer during the stop. “Hill’s nervous behavior is more significant because as the passenger of the Impala, he did not commit … Continue reading
TN: Nexus to def’s house more easily shown when object of search is jewelry from a store robbery
Defendants were accused of a jewelry store heist. The small nature of the items involved makes it more likely they’d be kept at home until disposed of, and that shows nexus. As to standing, defendants without it don’t get to … Continue reading
TX4: Fact that PC was via collective knowledge but not all details how was not Franks violation
It was apparent that the person whose information ended up in the search warrant application was a citizen informant not subject to a more intense review for probable cause. The fact that the affiant didn’t personally talk to the informant … Continue reading
VA: Davis good faith saves SI of a cell phone before Riley; even though no state case permitted it, CA4 did
Defendant’s cell phone was searched without a warrant months before Riley even had its cert grant. Even though no state case held that the warrant requirement applied to cell phones, the Fourth Circuit had concluded that the search incident doctrine … Continue reading
CA10: Violation of territorial limitation of Rule 41 was shown to be prejudicial, and suppression affirmed
The government conceded that the search warrant executed violated Rule 41(b)(1)’s within-district limitation on federal magistrate judges’ warrant-issuing authority. Because the government offered no other basis for reversal, and because the court concluded that defendant established prejudice as a result … Continue reading
OR: Passenger’s backpack in car was subject to automobile exception
Passenger’s backpack in the vehicle at the time of the stop was subject to the automobile exception. State v. Furrillo, 274 Ore. App. 612, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1291 (Nov. 4, 2015). Defendant’s admission during a stop on reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
WaPo: Radley Balko’s ‘The Watch’ Blog: The booming business of asset forfeiture
WaPo: Radley Balko’s ‘The Watch’ Blog: The booming business of asset forfeiture: Given the recent efforts at the state and federal level to rein in asset forfeiture abuses, you might think that the practice is in decline. You’d be mistaken.