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- 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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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: January 2016
MA: While statute didn’t authorize arrest for this misdemeanor, common law might still
“We conclude that there is no statutory authority to arrest an individual for operating a motor vehicle with a revoked registration but that, under circumstances not present here, an arrest may be made under the established common law rule pertaining … Continue reading
M.D.La.: Govt’s new Fourth Amendment exception argument in motion to reconsider is denied
Government’s new Fourth Amendment exception argument in motion to reconsider is denied. “The United States notified the Court that it was not filing any post-hearing memoranda. The United States could have, and indeed should have, advanced the inevitable discovery doctrine … Continue reading
techdirt: ACLU, EFF Join Fight To Suppress Evidence Illegally Obtained With A Cell Tower Spoofer
techdirt: ACLU, EFF Join Fight To Suppress Evidence Illegally Obtained With A Cell Tower Spoofer by Tim Cushing: Baltimore law enforcement officers love their cell tower spoofers. They have deployed them over 4,300 times since 2007, in most cases without … Continue reading
CA7: Not a Fourth Amendment violation to physically arrest for a fine only traffic infraction
It is not a Fourth Amendment violation to physically arrest for a fine only traffic infraction. Williams v. Brooks, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 68 (7th Cir. Jan. 5, 2016):
E.D.Pa.: No external signs dwelling was a triplex; search valid under Garrison
This property was under surveillance for seven days, and only defendant and his girlfriend coming and going. Police did an Accurint search about the address and nothing suggested that it was a triplex. Nothing outside said it was, and there … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Def’s failure to provide affidavit as to his standing justified denying motion to suppress without a hearing
“A hearing is not warranted here to determine the circumstances surrounding whether defendant voluntarily consented to the search. As with his motion to suppress his statements, defendant does not include his own affidavit as to the facts alleged surrounding the … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Def handcuffed standing at door of his car permitted search incident
Defendant was arrested, handcuffed, and standing at the door of his car. The CI said that he was always armed, and a search incident of the console was proper because of the likelihood of a gun. United States v. Eno, … Continue reading
CA10: Blanket suppression not appropriate where some cops stole from def during raid
Defendant was victimized because one of the two teams of officers involved in his raid were thieves regularly stealing from the people whose property they searched, including defendant. They were under investigation at the time of the raid in defendant’s … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Gun abandoned in flight from police wasn’t the product of an illegal seizure
Abandoned firearm in flight from the police in an allegedly illegal stop isn’t a seizure, and the gun is admissible. United States v. Giles, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200 (W.D.Pa. Jan. 4, 2016).* The CI’s tip was that he’d seen … Continue reading
CA7: Cigarette sales in Chicago is “closely regulated” and subject to inspection
The sale of cigarettes in Chicago has been closely regulated since 1941 and required a license since 1900. Defendant was a prior offender of the ordinance in selling untaxed or individual cigarettes, and the city decided to inspect the cigarettes … Continue reading
MA rejects Navarette on anonymous 911 calls but still finds reasonable suspicion from observation of driving
An anonymous 911 caller reported defendant’s erratic driving, and that led to defendant’s stop after the officer saw it for himself. Reliance on Navarette is rejected. “We decline to endorse the Supreme Court’s reliance on the use of the 911 … Continue reading
IN: Concerned citizen report of man likely with gun was sufficient for encounter
Identified citizen informant’s 911 call that a man in the neighborhood appeared to be armed was reason for a police encounter with the defendant who became more skittish as they talked. Concerned citizen tips are important and should be acted … Continue reading
Politico: Drone privacy push could stall out
Politico: Drone privacy push could stall out by Tony Romm: The debate over drones and privacy is just one facet of a broader policy battle surrounding the future of the unmanned craft.
Oregon refuses to follow Illinois v. Rodriguez on apparent authority
Oregon refuses to follow Illinois v. Rodriguez on apparent authority finding it doctrinally different than how it has interpreted the state constitution since the 1970s. State v. Bonilla, 358 Ore. 475, 2015 Ore. LEXIS 955 (Dec. 31, 2015):
Two on detentions without cause and no attenuation
Officers were running license numbers of cars on a drug store parking lot and found one where the owner had warrants out for him. When the driver showed up, and he generally matched the description of the owner, he fled … Continue reading
MA: Police remaining in def’s house after he went to hospital after a well-being check led to an unreasonable search
“In this appeal, the defendant challenges the denial of a motion to suppress the two tequila bottles seized during the well-being check. We conclude that the police had objectively reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant may have been injured … Continue reading
NPR: Police Expert: Tasers Should Be Used Only When Suspects Are Threats
NPR: Police Expert: Tasers Should Be Used Only When Suspects Are Threats: The Chicago Police Department is doubling its supply of Tasers in an effort to reduce the use of lethal force. NPR’s Rachel Martin speaks with former Baltimore police … Continue reading
NYLJ: Judge Denies Suppression Bid but Cautions U.S. Prosecutors
NYLJ: Judge Denies Suppression Bid but Cautions U.S. Prosecutors by Andrew Keshner: Eastern District Judge Raymond Dearie refused to suppress information from grand jury subpoenas improperly demanding secrecy from their recipients, but warned prosecutors he wouldn’t rule out suppression or … Continue reading
MN: Charging driver with the crime of refusal violates 4A and due process
Charging a driver with violating Minnesota’s refusal statute for refusing to submit to a urine test implicates a fundamental right because a warrantless search of the driver’s urine would not have been constitutional under an exception to the warrant requirement. … Continue reading