Archives
-
Recent Posts
- 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
- CAAF: Information on computer stored in evidence room wasn’t stale
- CAAF: SW’s incorporated affidavit satisfied particularity, reliance on CA10 case not CAAF case was error
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
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)
-
“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: February 2016
CO criminal defense lawyer disbarred for seeking warning for client of a search and telling a witness to lie; the witness was wired
A criminal defense lawyer attempted to get a tipoff to the client of an impending search and then he advised a client to lie to the police. The client disposed of marijuana plants which were not found during a search … Continue reading
LA4: Custodial arrest for pedestrian offense was unreasonable and violation of statute
The state’s petition for a supervisory writ is denied. Defendant was stopped for a pedestrian offense, and arresting him was unreasonable and a violation of statute. He should have been cited, and the trial court’s suppression order was correct. State … Continue reading
DC: Sitting in a car looking in your lap isn’t reasonable suspicion of anything
Officers approached defendant sitting in his Jeep at 14th & U in D.C., looking down into his lap. It turned out he was looking at his phone. The police order to get out of the car was without reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
CA6 sustains suspicionless TN probation searches of all sex offenders in community, reserving Knights question of lack of legitimate probation purpose, such as merely to harass
Tennessee permits suspicionless probation and parole searches, and they searched all sex offenders’ homes in one community just because they wanted to. Under defendant’s mattress they found a computer with pornography on it. The court does not reach the issue … Continue reading
TX3: Where there was a magistrate at municipal building 24 hours a day, 2½ mi. away, failure to get warrant voids blood draw
There was a magistrate on duty 24 hours a day at the municipal court building, which was about 2½ miles from the scene of the accident, but the officer made no effort to obtain a search warrant. The statute required … Continue reading
CA7: Looking at a cell phone while driving is not RS of texting while driving; consent suppressed
Indiana makes it an offense to text message and email while driving, but it prohibits no other phone activity such as searching for music, audio books, looking at videos. Studies show that a person looking at his phone is far … Continue reading
SCOTUS back Monday: Thomson Reuters: Scalia’s absence to be felt as U.S. Supreme Court returns
Thomson Reuters: Scalia’s absence to be felt as U.S. Supreme Court returns by Lawrence Hurley: WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) – The eight remaining members of the U.S. Supreme Court will feel the absence of their late colleague Justice Antonin Scalia … Continue reading
The Hill: FBI v. Apple: The legal war begins | FBiOS
The Hill: FBI v. Apple: The legal war begins by Julian Hattem: The FBI is basing its demand that Apple help hack into an encrypted iPhone on a little-known 18th century law that critics say is being badly abused. A … Continue reading
NPR: It’s Not Just The iPhone Law Enforcement Wants To Unlock
NPR: It’s Not Just The iPhone Law Enforcement Wants To Unlock by Rachel Martin: Manhattan Defense Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. tells NPR’s Rachel Martin that his cyberlab has asked Apple to break into 175 phones.
NYTimes: Opinion: In the Government vs. Apple, Who Wears the Black Hat?
NYTimes: Opinion: In the Government vs. Apple, Who Wears the Black Hat? by Robert Levine: The government, not Apple, should guarantee our privacy rights. But this dispute has arisen precisely because the government hasn’t done so. Instead, it squandered much … Continue reading
WaPo: FBI asked San Bernardino to reset the password for shooter’s phone backup
WaPo: FBI asked San Bernardino to reset the password for shooter’s phone backup by Ellen Nakashima and Mark Berman: In the chaotic aftermath of the shootings in San Bernardino in December, FBI investigators seeking to recover data from the iPhone … Continue reading
NYTimes: Apple’s Line in the Sand Was Over a Year in the Making
NYTimes; Apple’s Line in the Sand Was Over a Year in the Making by Matt Apuzoo, Joseph Goldstein and Eric Lichtblau: WASHINGTON — Time and again after the introduction of the iPhone nearly a decade ago, the Justice Department asked … Continue reading
NYTimes: How Tim Cook, in iPhone Battle, Became a Bulwark for Digital Privacy
NYTimes: How Tim Cook, in iPhone Battle, Became a Bulwark for Digital Privacy by Katie Benner and Nicole Perloth: SAN FRANCISCO — Letters from around the globe began pouring into the inbox of Timothy D. Cook not long after the … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: “Cops” video of def’s arrest shows officer not credible; frisk invalid
In a case demonstrating how easy it is for a police officer to lie about reasonable suspicion, the officer’s testimony of reasonable suspicion for defendant’s frisk is completely belied by a “Cops” video. On the totality, there was no reasonable … Continue reading
The New Yorker: The Dangerous Precedent in the Apple Case
The New Yorker: The Dangerous Precedent in the Apple Case by Amy Davidson: What happens when the government demands that you give it something that you do not have?
The Atlantic: Is Law Enforcement Crying Wolf About the Dangers of Locked Phones?
The Atlantic: Is Law Enforcement Crying Wolf About the Dangers of Locked Phones? by Conor Friedersdorf: The examples put forward by FBI Director James Comey and his defenders are underwhelming.
WaPo: Showdown over iPhone reignites privacy debate
WaPo: Showdown over iPhone reignites privacy debate by Todd C. Frankel and Ellen Nakashima: The Justice Department calculated that it held a winning hand — the passcode-locked Apple iPhone of a terrorist — when it went to a federal court … Continue reading
NYTimes: Justice Department Calls Apple’s Refusal to Unlock iPhone a ‘Marketing Strategy’
NYTimes: Justice Department Calls Apple’s Refusal to Unlock iPhone a ‘Marketing Strategy’ by By Eric Lichtblau and Matt Apuzzo: The Justice Department, frustrated by its inability to unlock the iPhone of one of the attackers in the San Bernardino killings, … Continue reading
AL: Objection to search of person doesn’t preserve claim of cell phone search
Defendant’s appellate argument that his cell phone was searched without a warrant wasn’t preserved at trial by the argument he objected to the search of his person. In any event, it was said during trial there was a warrant. Alonso … Continue reading