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- 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
- CAAF: Information on computer stored in evidence room wasn’t stale
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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)
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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: February 2016
CA2: Protective sweep justified in executing arrest warrant for murder suspect
The protective sweep of defendant’s Florida home was justified because he was wanted for murder during a drug trafficking crime. Officers saw pictures of defendant with gang members, and defendant consented to their seizure. United States v. Guerrero, 2016 U.S. … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: A common sense reading of the SW shows it was not overbroad
“‘Whether evidence is within a search warrant’s scope requires not a ‘hypertechnical’ analysis, but a “common-sense, and realistic” one.’ United States v. Okorie, 425 Fed. Appx. 166, 169 n.1 (3d Cir. Apr. 26, 2011) (quoting United States v. Srivastava, 540 … Continue reading
POLICE TECHNICAL to Release Controversial Tactical Hacking Book
POLICE TECHNICAL to Release Controversial Tactical Hacking Book by Brianne Hoffman: POLICE TECHNICAL is weeks away from releasing Introduction to Tactical Hacking: A Guide for Law Enforcement on pre-sale. The road to get there, however, has been long and challenging … Continue reading
NYTimes Editorial: Why Apple Is Right to Challenge an Order to Help the F.B.I.
NYTimes Editorial: Why Apple Is Right to Challenge an Order to Help the F.B.I.: It is understandable that federal investigators want to unlock an iPhone used by one of the attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., in … Continue reading
U.S. Law Week: Why the Criminal Defense Bar Will Miss Scalia
U.S. Law Week: Why the Criminal Defense Bar Will Miss Scalia by Lance J. Rogers: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was famous for his acid rhetoric, unapologetic defense of the death penalty and fierce opposition to progressive causes like … Continue reading
CT: First time CI credited because of admission against penal interest and detailed information
It was reasonable for the trial court to find probable cause for the warrant of a first time CI who gave a statement against penal interest and gave detailed information about drugs and cash in defendant’s house. State v. Rodriguez, … Continue reading
Vox: North Carolina is the latest state to find welfare recipients rarely use illegal drugs
Vox: North Carolina is the latest state to find welfare recipients rarely use illegal drugs [.3%] by Victoria M. Massie:
N.D.Cal.: Guilt by association here clearly wasn’t enough for a cell phone and CSLI search warrant, and GFE doesn’t apply
The cell phone and CSLI warrant were truly lacking in probable cause as to defendant. There was but a passing reference to him in an effort to show guilt by association, and that clearly was not a sufficient showing of … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: Corporate officer had no standing in corporation’s website police essentially hacked into
Defendant ran pmxrefinery.com which was under investigation for fraudulent invoices. The police contacted the website’s designer who volunteered the log-in credentials to the police without even being asked because she, too, suspected he was up to no good. Getting into … Continue reading
After private search, police did not expand on the first search
The first search of the premises because of an apparent meth lab was by an apartment manager and maintenance man, and this was a private search. They called the police, and the police search was both within the scope of … Continue reading
WTTW: Lawmakers Want to Limit Police Use of Stingray Cellphone Trackers
WTTW: Lawmakers Want to Limit Police Use of Stingray Cellphone Trackers by Paris Schutz: Law enforcement agencies on Thursday met with Illinois lawmakers about legislation that would limit the use of new technology that tracks cell phone use.
Texas Tribune: Some Communities Arming Officers With Credit Card Machines
Texas Tribune: Some Communities Arming Officers With Credit Card Machines by Johnathan Silver: If a California-based company has its way, the following scenario could become common across Texas: A police officer pulls over a driver, not for speeding or some … Continue reading
Reason.com: Scalia’s Mixed Drug War Record
Reason.com: Scalia’s Mixed Drug War Record by Jacob Sullum: Drug cases show the late justice’s fickle fidelity to the Fourth Amendment and federalism. For many years drug prohibition has been the main factor undermining the Fourth Amendment’s ban on “unreasonable … Continue reading
The Atlantic: The Conscription of Apple’s Software Engineers
The Atlantic: The Conscription of Apple’s Software Engineers by Conor Friedersdorf: The federal government is empowered to compel individuals and corporations to hand over data in their possession upon the presentation of a valid search warrant. Is the FBI also … Continue reading
AP: Lawsuit: Private probation company forced illegal drug tests
AP: Lawsuit: Private probation company forced illegal drug tests by Kate Brumback: A private probation company illegally required people on probation for traffic offenses to submit to drug tests at their own expense to profit the company, according to a … Continue reading
WaPo: Preliminary thoughts on the Apple iPhone order in the San Bernardino case (Part 1)
WaPo: Preliminary thoughts on the Apple iPhone order in the San Bernardino case (Part 1) by Orin Kerr: A lot of people are talking about a court order in California requiring Apple to help the FBI disable features of the … Continue reading
NH: No REP in house an order of protection says stay away from
Defendant was in his girlfriend’s house in violation of an order of protection, and she called the police. They came and arrested him. “We find persuasive two cases relied upon by the State in which courts held that, because a … Continue reading
SCOTUS has two weeks of arguments starting Monday, one a Fourth Amendment case
For those who don’t keep up, which is what I used to do until the Internet made it easier, SCOTUS has two weeks of oral arguments coming up: As in Feb. 23-25, 29 and Mar. 1-2 (you’ll see two more … Continue reading