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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
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- WaPo: They confided in ChatGPT. Their secrets ended up in court.
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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: October 2016
OH11: No REP in CI’s recording def in own home
A CI recording the defendant in his own house doesn’t violate any reasonable expectation of privacy. State v. James, 2016-Ohio-7262, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 4121 (3d Dist. Oct. 11, 2016). 911 domestic call involving a knife and a Taser on … Continue reading
OR: Mail recipient has a possessory interest in mail in transit; removing it from mail stream for dog sniff was unreasonable (under state constitution)
A US mail recipient has a constitutionally protected privacy interest in the package in transit under the Oregon Constitution, looking to Ex parte Jackson (1877). The package was effectively and unlawfully seized at the Portland airport mail facility for separate … Continue reading
OR: Stop of car outside trailer park known for drug activity unreasonable
Defendant pulled up and stopped outside a trailer park known for drug activity. Stopping him to ask for his ID was unreasonable. He’d committed no possible offense. State v. Bray, 281 Ore. App. 435 (Oct. 5, 2016). The stop of … Continue reading
OH5: Ten day delay in getting warrant for cell phone seized on exigency was reasonable
The seizure of defendant’s cell phone at a police interview was reasonable. The detective had probable cause to believe that it contained evidence of an armed robbery. Its warrantless seizure was demanded by the exigencies of the situation because defendant … Continue reading
OH2: Warrantless blood draw from unconscious def being treated in hospital was reasonable because of exigency
Defendant ran into construction equipment killing his passenger and severely injuring himself. At the hospital, he was being treated and unconscious. He smelled of alcohol. The warrantless blood test was based on exigency. State v. Hayes, 2016-Ohio-7241, 2016 Ohio App. … Continue reading
OH8: New information added to older information overcame staleness objection
Three months between seizure of defendant’s cell phone and search of his house based on the product of the first seizure wasn’t stale. Defendant was in a gang that recorded their crimes and uploaded them by phone to social media, … Continue reading
Law.com: Verizon GC: The Courts Must Tackle Smartphone Privacy
Law.com: Verizon GC: The Courts Must Tackle Smartphone Privacy by Stephanie Forshee: Every time you tweet or watch a YouTube clip on your smartphone, it effectively reveals your location to your carrier. Is this location information private? In a recently … Continue reading
NYTimes: Let’s Legislate From the Supreme Court Bench
NYTimes: Let’s Legislate From the Supreme Court Bench by Linda Greenhouse: Once despised by the political right, legislating from the Supreme Court bench is now celebrated, as long as its their judges doing it.
D.Neb.: Eviction of the occupants of an apartment lose standing when the landlord takes over
An eviction of the occupants of an apartment lose standing when the landlord takes over. “The Court finds that defendant lacks standing. At the time of the search, the landlord was legally and lawfully in possession of the Arias Apartment. … Continue reading
The Atlantic: Hackers Can Listen In on Your Skype Calls
The Atlantic: Hackers Can Listen In on Your Skype Calls by Kaveh Waddell: A security researcher found a way to ‘piggyback’ on video chats, and it’s very hard to detect.
WaPo: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sent feeds that helped police track minorities in Ferguson and Baltimore, report says
WaPo: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sent feeds that helped police track minorities in Ferguson and Baltimore, report says by Craig Timberg and Elizabeth Dwoskin: A powerful surveillance program that police used for tracking racially charged protests in Baltimore and Ferguson, … Continue reading
SCOTUS grants cert. in Hernández v. Mesa–cross border killing of teenager by Border Patrol officer
Hernández v. Mesa, cert. granted Oct. 11, 2016 (SCOTUSBlog): Issue: (1) Whether a formalist or functionalist analysis governs the extraterritorial application of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unjustified deadly force, as applied to a cross-border shooting of an unarmed Mexican … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Twice flying an airplane across the country and immediately returning was RS
While the defendants’ conduct in flying an airplane across the country and back within hours may have been perfectly lawful, on the totality, there was reasonable suspicion to encounter them. United States v. Eymann, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138482 (C.D.Ill. … Continue reading
MS: Guilty plea waived 4A claim
Defendant’s guilty plea waived his Fourth Amendment claim. Singleton v. State, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 637 (Oct. 4, 2016). Defendant’s claim that the police withheld information about an alleged drug dog alert. That claim was either procedurally barred or unsupported … Continue reading
AZ: Search incident of def’s backpack in next room when he was handcuffed was unreasonable
“The state argues Snyder’s backpack was within his immediate control because it was next to the entrance of the room in the security office where Snyder was detained. According to the state, Snyder could have ‘quickly reached the backpack (notwithstanding … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: CP warrant on year old info wasn’t stale
Defendant’s child pornography search warrant wasn’t based on stale information even a year old. United States v. Ornelas, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133809 (C.D.Cal. Sept. 27, 2016).* Defendant’s consent was involuntary, but the automobile exception justified the search of the … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Another Playpen warrant upheld
Another Playpen warrant upheld. United States v. Allain, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134605 (D.Mass. Sept. 29, 2016).* This white collar case warrant was based on probable cause and was sufficiently particular. Good faith also would sustain the warrant. United States … Continue reading
DC: Inevitable discovery applied to cell phone search in 2002 rather than GFE
Inevitable discovery used to justify a search of a cell phone in 2002 because it might have been unreasonable under Riley from 2014 (no mention of good faith exception applied to pre-Riley searches). Logan v. United States, 2016 D.C. App. … Continue reading