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Recent Posts
- CA11: Service of SW without attachments isn’t 4A violation
- KS: Running warrants on a passed out person is reasonable
- M.D.Fla.: Unidentified pills in driver’s lap may have been RS but it wasn’t PC for arrest
- D.C.Cir.: It was reasonable for officers to conclude that evidence or instrumentalities of the crime would be found in the car used in a robbery
- CA7: Officer’s warrantless view of CSAM flagged by hash value was not unreasonable
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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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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: April 2017
D.Minn.: Violation of state law in issuing a cell phone search warrant not ground to suppress in federal court
A cell phone search warrant issued in violation of Georgia law would not be suppressed in federal court. Also, Rule 41 and the Fourth Amendment are not coextensive, so the alleged violation of Rule 41 is not necessarily a violation … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: A safe can’t be seized under plain view during an emergency entry after a shooting; its contents are unknown
“Here, police were investigating a serious crime involving gunfire and could not account for a victim. Based on the totality of evidence that the officers were aware of at the time they decided to make entry into the residence, it … Continue reading
RealClear Policy: Civil Asset Forfeiture Harms Innocent Americans
RealClear Policy: Civil Asset Forfeiture Harms Innocent Americans by Rep. Doug Collins: The mechanics of civil asset forfeiture can be hard to follow because its abuses are rooted in circular reasoning. So it’s helpful to trace out how the statutes … Continue reading
NYTimes: Civil Rights Lawyers Plan to Challenge New York’s Body-Camera Program
NYTimes: Civil Rights Lawyers Plan to Challenge New York’s Body-Camera Program by Ashley Southall: A pilot program for police officers to begin wearing body cameras this month cleared a major hurdle when it was approved last week by the federal … Continue reading
To what degree is RS near the border delegated to the Border Patrol?
On the totality of circumstances, there was reasonable suspicion. “Keeping in mind that border patrol agents, not courts, are trained to detect smugglers, and ‘[t]he facts are to be interpreted in light of a trained officer’s experience,’ United States v. … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Asking def’s GF if she had the phone she saw naked pictures of her 13-year-old daughter in didn’t make her an agent
Defendant’s girlfriend reported to police that she saw nude pictures of her 13 year old daughter on defendant’s cell phone. The officer asked if she had the phone, and she hesitated, located it, and handed it over. She was not … Continue reading
D.Utah: Officer asked dispatch not to report records check so he could do dog sniff; they sent it 7-8 seconds after dog alerted, and this didn’t “measurably extend” stop
Dog alert in 7-8 seconds after dispatch called with the results of the record check did not “measurably” extend the stop, although the officer asked dispatch to hold off so he could do the dog sniff. “Though Trooper Wood asked … Continue reading
AK: Street rumor supplemented by controlled buy was PC
The CI passed on information from others that was virtually only a street rumor that he then corroborated with a controlled buy. The totality was probable cause. Hart v. State, 2017 Alas. App. LEXIS 59 (April 14, 2017). The officer … Continue reading
VA: PC for arrest for reckless driving wasn’t stale after three hours
The officer saw defendant recklessly driving, but wasn’t able to stop him. Staleness for arrest for that did not dissipate within three hours before he saw defendant again. Hairston v. Commonwealth, 2017 Va. App. LEXIS 99 (April 11, 2017) (see … Continue reading
WaPo: ‘Nobody’s got to use the Internet’: A GOP lawmaker’s response to concerns about Web privacy
WaPo: ‘Nobody’s got to use the Internet’: A GOP lawmaker’s response to concerns about Web privacy by Kristine Phillips:
WaPo: Watch Blog: Forced catheterizations are a good reminder that the drug war is as barbaric and cruel as ever
WaPo: Watch Blog: Forced catheterizations are a good reminder that the drug war is as barbaric and cruel as ever by Radley Balko:
GA: Statute on return of property must be followed; can’t apply to court first
In a juvenile proceeding, recovery of the juvenile’s cell phone required following a statutory procedure which wasn’t. One can’t just apply to the court first. The further claim that retention of the phone violated the Fourth Amendment wasn’t raised below … Continue reading
LA5: No REP in cell phone provider’s records
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in cell phone call details kept by the service provider under the third-party doctrine. State v. Savage, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 609 (La.App. 5 Cir. April 12, 2017) (decided under Fourth Amendment and … Continue reading
TN: Defense can’t use state SDT to get access to witness’s stored communications under SCA
The State lacked standing to challenge the subpoenas issued to its witnesses and electronic communications service providers seeking cell phone and social media communications because it had no personal right, privilege, or proprietary interest in the electronic communications at issue, … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: OSHA admin warrant request too expansive and quashed
The OSHA administrative inspection warrant was improvidently granted. It was based on a complaint arising from an employee injury, and probable cause in the administrative sense is different than criminal probable cause. Here, it wasn’t reasonable to expand the administrative … Continue reading
VA: PC for stop for reckless driving didn’t get stale in 3 hours
The officer saw defendant recklessly driving, but wasn’t able to stop him. Staleness for arrest for that did not dissipate within three hours before he saw defendant again. Hairston v. Commonwealth, 2017 Va. App. LEXIS 99 (April 11, 2017) (see … Continue reading
W.D.Ark.: Govt had independent source for cracking password on Android phone by software so def’s suppressed confession doesn’t suppress phone
While defendant’s confession was suppressed, his passwords to his phone were not because it was an Android phone, and the government could get in to an Android phone with its software. Thus, there was an independent source. United States v. … Continue reading
CA1: Successor 2255 for cell phone search prior to Riley denied
Defendant sought a successor 2255 habeas petition on the ground his lawyer failed to properly litigate a cell phone search issue before Riley was even decided. Denied: no showing of prejudice. In re Conroy, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 25139 (1st … Continue reading
CA8: Once PC for vehicle established, search can go wherever the things to be sought could be found; air compressor could be broken into for drugs
Defendant’s traffic stop was not unlawfully prolonged given the officer’s observations of the truck’s contents, the seeming implausibilities and inconsistencies in the responses to the officer’s routine questions, the reasonable suspicion the officer developed as a result of those improbable … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Use of software to scan a computer without looking at images to compare to NCMEC’s database not unreasonable even though some adult porn images slipped through to NCMEC
The used of specialized software to scan a hard drive for hash values of child pornography is reasonable. Defendant argued that at least one adult image of pornography had been uploaded to NCMEC’s database, but that doesn’t make every search … Continue reading