Archives
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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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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: August 2017
IA: Hour long detention waiting for drug dog lacked RS
Defendant was stopped for a window tint violation, which he didn’t contest. His LPN check of out-of-state plates took six minutes. It took nearly an hour for the drug dog to arrive. There was no reasonable suspicion for that long … Continue reading
CA4: Even if consent invalid, PC for SW came from independent sources
“[T]he district court did not err in denying Hernandez’s motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the Samsung T199 phone because the search pursuant to the warrant was ‘genuinely independent’ of the initial search. Murray, 487 U.S. at 542.” United … Continue reading
CA9: Officer’s call to def’s PO during stop didn’t unreasonably prolong it, and PO requested search
The officer’s call to defendant’s PO during his traffic stop did not unreasonably prolong the stop. The PO separately had reasonable suspicion for a search and requested one. United States v. Seugasala, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 14173 (9th Cir. Aug. … Continue reading
OH6: Stop and arrest outside officer’s territorial jurisdiction does not violate state constitution
The officer knew he was outside his territorial jurisdiction when he made a stop of a suspect DUI, but this doesn’t violate the Ohio Constitution. State v. Curran, 2017-Ohio-7008, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 3130 (6th Dist. July 28, 2017). Lack … Continue reading
GA engages in de novo review of consent claim when facts aren’t in dispute
Since the facts are undisputed, the court does de novo review and finds that defendant consented to the breath test and reverses. State v. Jacobs, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 361 (Aug. 2, 2017). “Counsel was not ineffective in failing to … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Nighttime search clause in SW moot where search was during day
Police showed probable cause for a DNA search warrant in an effort to connect defendant to an armed robbery. The warrant had a nighttime search clause. Since this all happened during daylight hours, any issues with the nighttime clause are … Continue reading
W.D.Ark.: Can’t relitigate appealed search issue in a 2255
“The very Fourth Amendment issues now raised by Berger in this § 2255 proceeding were raised and decided adversely to him on direct appeal. … He may not do so again now.” United States v. Berger, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA5: Plaintiff’s civil search claim was barred by Heck v. Humphrey, but his due process claim was not
Plaintiff’s civil search claim was barred by Heck v. Humphrey, but his due process claim was not. Shugart v. Six Unknown Fannin Cty. Sheriffs, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 14190 (5th Cir. Aug. 2, 2017):
ACLU: A Federal Court Says Your Prescription Records Aren’t Really Private. The Supreme Court Might Have Something to Say About That.
ACLU: A Federal Court Says Your Prescription Records Aren’t Really Private. The Supreme Court Might Have Something to Say About That. by Brett Max Kaufman, Staff Attorney, ACLU Center for Democracy:
SCOTUSBlog: Symposium: Carpenter and the eyewitness rule
SCOTUSBlog: Symposium: Carpenter and the eyewitness rule by Orin Kerr:
CA10: Not clearly established that even minimal force can be used to resist alleged unlawful search
Plaintiffs were involved in a domestic dispute outside their trailer that had started to cool down, or so they said. One wanted to go into the house to retrieve shoes, but the officer insisted on following to be sure there … Continue reading
LATimes: Privacy trumps the expedience of police technology tools
LATimes: Privacy trumps the expedience of police technology tools (editorial):
E.D.N.C.: 15 second delay in raising hands when told to is RS
Officers had reasonable suspicion when they confronted defendant on the parking lot of a club where there had been many crimes in the past. His delay for 15 seconds in raising his hands justified drawing their weapons. United States v. … Continue reading
WA: Random UAs valid as condition of probation for DUI
“At issue in this case is whether a court may require a probationer convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) to submit to random urinalysis testing (UAs) for controlled substances. In particular, this issue centers on whether this testing violates … Continue reading
Cal.1st: Smell of MJ on the person is at worst indicative of an infraction and it can’t justify a search incident
Officers were attracted to a group of youths in an area known for potential gang violence. They approached them and informed defendant that he smelled of marijuana and searched him. Because smelling of marijuana isn’t a crime and possession of … Continue reading
AP (Police One): Lawsuit: Neb. patrol accused of requiring vaginal exams for female recruits
AP (Police One): Lawsuit: Neb. patrol accused of requiring vaginal exams for female recruits by Margery A. Beck: State Patrol spokesman Cody Thomas said no NSP recruits have undergone the pelvic exams since December 2016
Reason: Federal Judge Rules Unlicensed Dogs Aren’t Protected By Fourth Amendment
Reason: Federal Judge Rules Unlicensed Dogs Aren’t Protected By Fourth Amendment by C.J. Ciaramella: Nikita Smith sued the Detroit police after they shot her three dogs on a pot raid. A judge ruled the dogs were “contraband.”
IN: Officer safety concerns not shown for search of juvenile’s back pack for asking to borrow cell phone
The juvenile in this case was in a Kroger parking lot late one Sunday morning asking to use cell phones. The police were called, and he was found with two backpacks and the police suspected he was a runaway. A … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Passenger’s refusal to answer basic questions and ignoring officer during routine traffic stop justified patdown
“Here, the Court finds that Officer Kunz had reasonable suspicion to believe that Defendant was armed and presently dangerous, such that his patdown of Defendant was lawful. The stop occurred at night, when it was dark outside. After the vehicle … Continue reading
CA3: Being taken to a police station interrogation room in handcuffs was a de facto arrest
Defendant was de facto arrested when he was taken in handcuffs from the place of his seizure to a police station and placed in a holding cell for interrogation. United States v. Wrensford, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 13894 (3d Cir. … Continue reading