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- CA6: No interlocutory appeal of denial of motion to suppress
- 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
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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)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (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
TX: Texas Const. grants no special protection to third party information; here CSLI and numbers dialed
Third party cell phone information is not protected by the Texas Constitution. It grants no greater rights than the Fourth Amendment. If the drafters wanted it broader, they could have said so. The information was available to law enforcement under … Continue reading
TN: State’s failure to challenge trial court’s findings entry to curtilage was unreasonable is waiver
Officers had a levy for unpaid court costs, and it wasn’t uncommon for drug officers to come along for the seizure. The record supported the conclusion that defendant did not affirmatively and expressly disclaim or relinquish his privacy interest in … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Turn signal statute is unambiguous, and officer’s mistake wasn’t objectively reasonable under Heien
The Tennessee turn signal statute is clear and unambiguous, unlike the brake light statute in Heien. Officer “Garrison did not have a reasonable suspicion that Pate had violated the traffic laws. Thus, the stop was unlawful. As a passenger, Fortune … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Attempted flight to back of house from arrest in the home justified protective sweep
Officers entered with an arrest warrant. Defendant’s attempt to flee to the back of the house justified a protective sweep of that area because of the possibility there might be others back there. United States v. Thompson, 2017 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
CA11: “Armed and dangerous” report on def was enough for a patdown
The officer had reasonable suspicion for a patdown based on a BOLO for defendant that he was armed and dangerous. Defendant wasn’t in custody when he was asked about where the gun was. United States v. Hogan, 2017 U.S. App. … Continue reading
NY Co.: Taking a “recidivist transit violator” outside the turnstiles was a reasonable detention
Plaintiff was a “recidivist transit violator” stopped for moving between cars. Taking him off the train outside the turnstiles was a reasonable detention under the state constitution. Vargas v. City of New York, 2017 NY Slip Op 27116, 2017 N.Y. … Continue reading
WV: Drug dog arrived and worked before ticket was finished; neither occupant had DLs, so the dog didn’t lengthen the stop
“As in Brock, the record on appeal in the instant case shows that the mission of the traffic stop was not completed at the time the dog sniff occurred. Officer Boggess testified that he was only approximately ‘three-quarters of the … Continue reading
WV: Smell of burning MJ coming from def’s house was justification to enter
Officers approaching defendant’s house could smell marijuana. When the door was opened, the smell got stronger, and that justified a warrantless entry. State v. Ott, 2017 W. Va. LEXIS 256 (April 10, 2017) (memorandum). The CI never said he was … Continue reading
LA4: In school handoff from suspected MJ dealer to another student was RS as to the latter
In a school, one student who was a suspected marijuana dealer handed something to another student. That was reasonable suspicion as to the recipient. “Here, Mr. Gaddies observed K.L. receive something from a student known to have issues with marijuana. … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: T-Mobile’s policy to do a data dump on any T-Mobile phone linked to a robbery of one of its stores doesn’t make it a government agent
A T-Mobile store was robbed, and their policy is to do a data dump including CSLI of any T-Mobile phone number potentially linked to the robbery. That does not make them a government agent in the data dump. United States … Continue reading
Forbes: US Immigration Splurged $2.2 Million On Phone Hacking Tech Just After Trump’s Travel Ban
Forbes: US Immigration Splurged $2.2 Million On Phone Hacking Tech Just After Trump’s Travel Ban by Thomas Fox-Brewster:
E.D.Mich.: Seizure of cell phone to preserve its evidence for a SW was reasonable
Seizure of defendant’s cell phone found near him when he was arrested was reasonable to preserve evidence until a search warrant could be obtained. United States v. Hamilton, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54953 (E.D. Mich. April 11, 2017):
OH3: Drug dog on scene in 1 min didn’t prolong the stop
Defendant was stopped for window tint, and the drug dog arrived within one minute. The dog sniff did not delay the stop because no response had yet been received from dispatch. State v. Wade, 2017-Ohio-1319, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 1340 … Continue reading
OH3: That def’s car probably was involved in a shooting was PC for an automobile exception search
Officers had probable cause to look in defendant’s car under the automobile exception: “We conclude that law enforcement had probable cause to believe that the silver Honda Civic contained contraband. Kern was shot at from a silver Honda Civic and … Continue reading
Delaware News Journal: Drones finding different ways to help public safety
Delaware News Journal: Drones finding different ways to help public safety by Esteban Parra: “In the future, drones will likely provide routine automated supplemental patrol functions by following an algorithm to take off, patrol a specific area, and return to … Continue reading
Nashville Scene: The Tennessee Supreme Court keeps reversing itself, and criminal defense attorneys are worried
Nashville Scene: The Tennessee Supreme Court keeps reversing itself, and criminal defense attorneys are worried by Stephen Elliot: The rapid makeover of the court has caused a noticeable and nearly instantaneous shift in its ideology – a shift that a … Continue reading
WaPo: ‘The Volokh Conspiracy’ Blog: The Fourth Amendment and “no trespassing” signs
WaPo: ‘The Volokh Conspiracy’ Blog: The Fourth Amendment and “no trespassing” signs by Orin Kerr: In light of the uncertainty, I thought I would point out the latest decision on the Fourth Amendment implications of ‘no trespassing’ signs: State v. … Continue reading
NYLJ: Court of Appeals’ ‘Facebook’ Decision Leaves Many Questions Open
NYLJ: Court of Appeals’ ‘Facebook’ Decision Leaves Many Questions Open by Maurice J. Recchia: In a newsworthy case in which retail giant Amazon and social media developer Foursquare Labs, among others, submitted friend of the court briefs, the New York … Continue reading
WaPo: Border agents can look at everything on your cell phone. Congress should change that (editorial)
WaPo: Border agents can look at everything on your cell phone. Congress should change that (editorial): PRETTY MUCH everyone can agree that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents should be able to freely search travelers’ bags at the border. Their … Continue reading
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and “no trespassing” signs
WaPo: The Fourth Amendment and “no trespassing” signs by Orin Kerr: