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- D.Utah: Minor time detours to writing up a traffic ticket didn’t unreasonable extend this stop; the dog was quickly on its way
- KY: Despite lack of nexus, SW sustained under GFE
- CO: DNA could be seized from trash
- CA8: Nebraska statute allowing SWs to cross state lines doesn’t violate 4A
- WA: Sweat patch as condition of release violated state constitution’s privacy provision
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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: January 2019
New Law Review Article: Fourth Amendment Textualism
New Law Review Article: Fourth Amendment Textualism by Jeffrey Bellin, posted on SSRN. Abstract:
Cato blog: What’s That Buzzing Overhead? It’s An OSHA Drone
Cato blog: What’s That Buzzing Overhead? It’s An OSHA Drone by Walter Olson:
IN: Advice of Pirtle rights before search of safe under SW not required
Because officers did not ask defendant for the combination to his safe to search it under a warrant, he was not required to have the Indiana Pirtle advisement before they searched it. Brown v. State, 2019 Ind. App. LEXIS 14 … Continue reading
CA7: Franks is settled law, and false statements to procure arrest warrant denied qualified immunity
Plaintiff stated a Franks claim that his arrest warrant was based on false evidence and omitted exculpatory evidence. The officer is denied qualified immunity. Rainsberger v. Benner, 17 2521 (7th Cir. Jan. 15, 2019):
Volokh Conspiracy: Search Warrants and Compelled Biometric Access to Phones
Volokh Conspiracy: Search Warrants and Compelled Biometric Access to Phones by Orin Kerr: A new ruling, and some (mostly critical) thoughts.
N.D.Ga.: Clothing as evidence in plain view can be seized whether from a suspect or victim
Defendant’s clothing was properly seized under the plain view doctrine whether he was a suspect or a victim. Defendant also didn’t have standing in the car involved because it wasn’t his. United States v. Hood, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5357 … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Six month unjustified delay in getting SW for hard drive made search unreasonable
Six month delay in getting a search warrant for a hard drive in a child pornography case was unreasonable. The government could give a good reason for the delays which might have justified it. Search recommended suppressed. United States v. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: 1A retaliatory SW claim defeated by actual PC for the warrant as an independent source
Plaintiff’s claim that a search warrant for his house was retaliatory for First Amendment activities doesn’t overcome the fact there was independent probable cause for the warrant. Therefore, the Fourth Amendment claim fails. Fredin v. Clysdale, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
CT: When challenging a SW affidavit’s PC, it needs to be in the record for appellate review
“The record was inadequate to review the defendant’s unpreserved claim that the search warrant for M’s cell phone records and the warrant for his arrest were obtained without probable cause because the police included false information in the affidavits in … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: Def was a day visitor, and it was tenuous at best he had standing; once he left, he sure didn’t
“As an initial matter, it is not clear that Lang even has standing to challenge the warrant. Lang testified (against the advice of counsel) that he was merely a temporary guest in his girlfriend’s mother’s residence, there to help ‘clean … Continue reading
CA6: Carpenter decided after notice of appeal didn’t apply to defendant
CSLI was admitted at trial without objection. Carpenter was decided after the notice of appeal. On plain error review, there is no error because the CSLI was lawfully obtained at the time and the good faith exception applies. United States … Continue reading
CA6 sustains Playpen warrant under GFE
Playpen warrant was valid under good faith exception. United States v. Moorehead, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 639 (6th Cir. Jan. 9, 2019).* Defendant was not entitled to discovery of the exploit code used in the NIT warrant to locate him. … Continue reading
CA9: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply is SSI proceedings unless illegal search “egregious”
The exclusionary rule does not apply to a Social Security ALJ’s determination on supplemental income unless the illegal search can be shown to be egregious. Viewing the video, this one was not. Foote v. Berryhill, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 928 … Continue reading
Cert. granted: Mitchell v. Wisconsin: Warrantless blood draws from the unconscious
ScotusBlog: Mitchell v. Wisconsin, 18-6210 (granted Jan. 11, 2019). Issue: Whether a statute authorizing a blood draw from an unconscious motorist provides an exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement. Posted here: WI: Drinking and driving until unconsciousness obviates def’s … Continue reading
techdirt: CBP Will Search You And Your Property If You’re Paying Too Much Attention To An Agent. Or Too Little.
techdirt: CBP Will Search You And Your Property If You’re Paying Too Much Attention To An Agent. Or Too Little. by Tim Cushing:
IA: PC for car search includes purse found in it
Probable cause for search of a car includes a woman’s purse found in the car. State v. Swenson, 2019 Iowa App. LEXIS 36 (Jan. 9, 2019). A dog sniff of a car doesn’t require reasonable suspicion or probable cause something … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Observing MLAT search in Canada not enough to invoke “joint venture” doctrine
The government’s MLAT request to Canada to seize records there and then being there to observe for relevance of what was seized was not a “joint venture” when Canada acted on the request. A “joint venture” requires actual involvement, not … Continue reading
SCOTUS: In QI in excessive force cases, a “clearly established” right needs to be defined with specificity
In confronting qualified immunity in excessive force cases, a “clearly established” right needs to be defined with specificity. City of Escondido v. Emmons, 17-1660 (U.S. Jan. 7, 2019) (per curiam) [pdf at 27]: