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- 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: April 2018
OH9: Running drug dog around car during computer check didn’t delay the stop
Running a drug dog around defendant’s car while the computer check is going on didn’t delay the stop. State v. Torres, 2018-Ohio-1173, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 1274 (9th Dist. Mar. 30, 2018). The inclusion of a generalized along with a … Continue reading
MN: Getting out of a car, looking at officer, then walking away was hardly RS
Defendant’s stop, handcuffing, and questioning was without reasonable suspicion based on his looking at officers and walking away. State v. Davis, 2018 Minn. App. LEXIS 162 (Apr. 2, 2018) (“he looked at me” or “he didn’t look at me” has … Continue reading
TX1: Search incident and inventory invalid for failing to signal; as to inventory, the inventorying officer is a necessary witness
A drug officer called a patrol officer to stop defendant. After he failed to promptly signal a turn, he was stopped, handcuffed, and his car was searched. “The search of Appellant’s vehicle incident to his arrest for failing to signal … Continue reading
IL: Hospital employee seizing def’s clothing from private room at police request violated 4A
Police enlisting a hospital employee to enter defendant’s hospital room to take his clothing violated his reasonable expectation of privacy and made the employee a police agent. The seizure violated the Fourth Amendment. People v. Gill, 2018 IL App (3d) … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice Department asks Supreme Court to moot Microsoft email case, citing new law
WaPo: Justice Department asks Supreme Court to moot Microsoft email case, citing new law by Ellen Nakashima: Now that Congress has made clear that a U.S. search warrant covers emails stored overseas, the Justice Department on Friday asked the Supreme … Continue reading
Motherboard: Mass Surveillance Memes Show Our Collective Anxiety Over Government Spying
Motherboard: Mass Surveillance Memes Show Our Collective Anxiety Over Government Spying by Mack DeGeurin: Surveillance memes are everywhere because it feels like surveillance is everywhere.
NPR: Police Shootings Stir Outrage Among Some, But Not The Supreme Court
NPR: Police Shootings Stir Outrage Among Some, But Not The Supreme Court by Nina Totenburg: The U.S. Supreme Court has again stepped into the bitter public turmoil over police shootings of civilians, ruling Monday that an Arizona police officer is … Continue reading
WSJ: Artificial Intelligence Could Soon Enhance Real-Time Police Surveillance
WSJ: Artificial Intelligence Could Soon Enhance Real-Time Police Surveillance by Shibani Mahtani and Zusha Elinson: CHICAGO—Several technology companies are working with police departments across the U.S. to develop the capability to add artificial intelligence to video surveillance and body cameras … Continue reading
Volokh Conspiracy: The Supreme Court’s Continuing Immunity Crusade
Volokh Conspiracy: The Supreme Court’s Continuing Immunity Crusade by Will Baude A few thoughts on today’s summary reversal in Kisela v. Hughes.
MN: Typo adding wrong name into a DNA SW along with the correct name didn’t make it overbroad
“A [DNA] search warrant that mistakenly includes an incorrect person’s name does not lack sufficient particularity when the warrant provides a description of the correct person to be searched that includes the correct person’s name, date of birth, and location, … Continue reading
Cal.: Cal.’s initiated DNA act constitutionally requires DNA sampling from those charged with serious felonies
California’s initiated DNA collection act requiring DNA sampling of those charged with serious felonies applies to defendant’s arson arrest. He refused to provide a sample on booking and was convicted of a misdemeanor offense. The California statute is not exactly … Continue reading
W.D.Mich.: No REP in overheard unethical ex parte communication with a judge
An ex parte communication between lawyers and a judge overheard on an open phone line of a part of a call that hadn’t been completely disconnected has no reasonable expectation of privacy. Ideally, there woud be a reasonable expectation of … Continue reading
Volokh Conspiracy: Why the Supreme Court Reviews So Many Qualified Immunity Cases
Volokh Conspiracy: Why the Supreme Court Reviews So Many Qualified Immunity Cases by Orin Kerr: Here’s a theory, at least.
SCOTUS: Qualified immunity for shooting a woman holding a knife in an apparent threatening manner
In Kisela v. Hughes, 17-467 (U.S. April 2, 2018), decided on the cert petition and response, the Supreme Court held that an officer who shot a woman holding a knife in an apparent threatening manner [although that seems to be … Continue reading
The Economist: There will be little privacy in the workplace of the future
The Economist: There will be little privacy in the workplace of the future: AI will make workplaces more efficient, safer-and much creepier.
Wired: The Hairy Problem With Drug Testing
Wired: The Hairy Problem With Drug Testing by Ellen Airhart: Boston police officers whose hair tests positive for drugs usually have two options: admit their substance abuse problems and agree to a stint in rehabilitation, or relinquish their position. But … Continue reading
NYTimes: Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
NYTimes: Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It? by Sapna Maheswari: Amazon and Google have filed patent applications, many still under consideration, that outline how digital assistants can monitor more of what users say … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: CP SW for images “created, modified or stored in any form,” including electronically included a cell phone
A child pornography search warrant for images “created, modified or stored in any form,” including electronically included a cell phone. As to defendant’s Franks challenge, his complaint about hearsay completely fails because whatever the police had, they obtained another person’s … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Suit over opening medical records envelope as non-legal mail was frivolous
Suit over opening of non-legal mail, here medical records, was frivolous. Villafana v. Clarke, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54893 (E.D. Va. Mar. 30, 2018). The first officer at the scene conducted a search without probable cause. A supervising officer appeared … Continue reading