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- 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
- CA10: Def’s BO suggesting heroin abuse added to RS
- WaPo: They confided in ChatGPT. Their secrets ended up in court.
- CA6: No interlocutory appeal of denial of motion to suppress
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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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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: May 2016
New American: Obama Attacks Sen. Rand Paul for Protecting Fourth Amendment [but not trying to change the third-party doctrine]
New American: Obama Attacks Sen. Rand Paul for Protecting Fourth Amendment by Alex Newman. This is from a source I don’t post from because its stuff is almost always so constitutionally off the wall. This one is particularly worth comment, … Continue reading
A.F.Ct.Crim.App.: Davis good faith applies to pre-Jones GPS installation
GPS was installed on defendant’s car prior to Jones and it’s not excludable under Davis good faith. United States v. Richards, 2016 CCA LEXIS 285 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. May 2, 2016). The officer didn’t smell marijuana on defendant’s person, … Continue reading
NC: Stop violated Rodriquez because def was frisked, put in patrol car, and extensive criminal history checks run
Defendant was stopped in a rental car for speeding and following too close, and the officer thought defendant’s breathing showed excessive nervousness. The officer got defendant out of the car and frisked him and had him get in the patrol … Continue reading
MO: Delay in resolving traffic stop was reasonable because of heavy radio traffic
The delay in getting basic information back on defendant was caused by heavy radio traffic at the time, and the officer didn’t unduly delay resolution of the stop. Defendant also consented. (This was reviewed under plain error for a failure … Continue reading
CA6: Clerk issued arrest warrant without judicial authority; not unreasonable unless no PC
That court clerks issue arrest warrants, but not acting as a neutral and detached magistrate, is not a constitutional violation unless the arrest was without probable cause. Plaintiffs, given four amendments to the complaint, never show that the arrest was … Continue reading
TN: Omitting one item from inventory on the SW return wasn’t a constitutional violation
One bullet was missing from the return on the warrant which wasn’t discovered until the defense brought it up at the suppression hearing, so the state amended the return. This isn’t a prejudicial error to void the search or keep … Continue reading
VA: Girlfriend’s authority over room didn’t extend to boyfriend’s closed bag
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his girlfriend’s room because they both were staying there, but he retained it in a closed bag left in her room. She had the authority to consent to a search of the … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Illegal search claim not cognizable in 2255
First, defendant’s illegal search claim isn’t cognizable under 2255 and Stone v. Powell. “Second, by entering a non-conditional plea of guilty to the child pornography charge, Adkins waived his Fourth Amendment claims.” “Third, Adkins’ plea agreement contained an express appeal … Continue reading
The Hill: Search warrant change sparks backlash
The Hill: Search warrant change sparks backlash by Katie Bo Williams: A battle is brewing on Capitol Hill over a seemingly small change to federal hacking powers that critics say will authorize sweeping government surveillance. Unless Congress moves by December … Continue reading
WaPo: Radley Balko’s “The Watch” Blog: Another forfeiture outrage
WaPo: Radley Balko’s “The Watch” Blog: Another forfeiture outrage: This is the first forfeiture case I’ve seen in which a judge prevented a prosecutor from returning someone’s property.
The New Yorker: The Crisis of Police Militarization
The New Yorker: The Crisis of Police Militarization by Dexter Filkins: “‘Do Not Resist’ traces the transformation of police departments into forces that look like our military—and often act like it.” And I always thought there might be a psycho-sexual … Continue reading
OH9: Taking def’s purse from car as she’s going to jail and searching it justified by auto exception or inventory
When defendant was arrested, the officer took her purse out of the car so it could go to jail with her. The search of the purse was valid as inventory or under the automobile exception. Also, Ohio recognizes good faith … Continue reading
CA7 gives an interesting historical and current summary of “the Supreme Court[‘s] … reviv[al of] a ‘property-based approach to identify unconstitutional searches.”
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the basement area of an apartment building. Neither was it curtilage. The court includes an interesting historical and current summary of “the Supreme Court[‘s] … reviv[al of] a ‘property-based approach to identify … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Just because def ran away from the car, it was still “readily mobile” for the automobile exception
“His argument is that because the car was parked and defendant had run away from the car, it was ‘not mobile within the meaning of the Carroll/Chambers exception.’ Not surprisingly, defendant cites no case law to support this argument; and … Continue reading
TX6: Generic motion to suppress and hearing didn’t specify issue appealed; held all waived
Defendant’s generic motion to suppress was denied and there was no specific proof or argument at the suppression hearing as to what it was all about. It was essentially waived for appeal by failure to articulate the ground argued on … Continue reading
NY3: Cell phones may be seized and searched under SW for computers, processors, and drives
A search warrant for computers, processing units, and drives didn’t say “cell phone,” but cell phones may be seize under that description. People v. Victor, 2016 NY Slip Op 03551, 2016 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3425 (3d Dept. May 5, … Continue reading
OR: Def’s touching pocket then officer seeing a knife was RS
The roadside conversation with defendant was not coercive. “The trial court found credible Haugen’s testimony that defendant was cooperative and engaged in easygoing conversation at this point.” She kept touching her pocket, and, once she moved, a knife was observed, … Continue reading
OR: Unspecified and unarticulated “equipment violation” isn’t reasonable suspicion
Officer’s testimony that there was an “equipment violation” as the basis for a stop that led to a drug dog didn’t support reasonable suspicion without articulating the violation. State v. Sexton, 278 Ore. App. 1, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 537 … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Omission of details of a protective sweep not Franks issue where magistrate had to know about it
Police officer’s omission of details of a protective sweep from an affidavit for a search warrant did not support a Franks claim as to how he reported responding to a 911 shots fired call. The protective sweep wasn’t even hidden; … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Officer’s presence on driveway didn’t violate curtilage
Defendant showed a reasonable expectation of privacy in his grandmother’s house because he’d been living there for years, got mail there, and had been arrested there at least twice before: It was his residence. The driveway of the house was … Continue reading