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- 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
- 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
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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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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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)
ACLU on privacy
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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: March 2019
LA2: Failure to return papers to the clerk or court does not warrant suppression
The searching officer’s failure to file the return of the paperwork with the court is not a constitutional violation requiring suppression of the search warrant. State v. Hardyway, 2019 La. App. LEXIS 320 (La. App. 2 Cir. Feb. 27, 2019). … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: Once there’s an indictment, a motion to suppress evidence is used rather than a motion for return of property
“Where, as here, an indictment has been filed and criminal proceedings are ongoing, the proper means for seeking return of seized property and to challenge the constitutionality of a search is a motion to suppress evidence.” United States v. Flick, … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Officer’s embellishments of drugs involved told to others didn’t undermine the real PC that existed to stop def
Defendant’s conversations were picked up on a wiretap and concerned his marijuana dealing and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Despite officer embellishments in other types of drugs defendant was involved in shared with other officers (heroin, etc.), … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Despite 2011 violations of statute on real-time CSLI and trap and trace orders, GFE requires no suppression for isolated negligence
Seven years before Carpenter, Salinas CA police violated statute in getting real-time CSLI and a trap and trace order to find defendant after a robbery. The statutory violation was negligence, but it was isolated and not systemic, and the other … Continue reading
MT: Admin search of def’s licensed commercial kennel on her residential property was reasonable
Defendant had a licensed commercial kennel on residential property. The local government’s inspection complied with Burger v. New York because the search was within the scope of the regulatory scheme. State v. Warren, 2019 MT 49, 2019 Mont. LEXIS 67 … Continue reading
CA9: Credibility findings re drug dog and handler are binding on appeal
Defendant’s package was opened in transit with a warrant after a dog sniff. After a three day suppression hearing, the district court found the dog handler credible and there was no misrepresentation of facts concerning the dog’s accuracy or training. … Continue reading
CA9: Injunctive relief against records surreptitiously collected is a possible remedy for a 4A violation
In a wide ranging case against the FBI for conducting covert surveillance in a mosque and targeting Muslims allegedly solely based on their religion, the court holds that injunctive relief to expunge what was seized is a possible remedy for … Continue reading
D.Md.: A waived motion to suppress by a guilty plea, no matter the likelihood of success, is not actual innocence
The potential of a successful motion to suppress that was waived by a guilty plea is not “actual innocence” for post-conviction tolling. “Regardless, Yansane’s claim that he now has evidence of legal innocence fails because a potentially successful motion to … Continue reading
PA: Safety concerns are proper concerns for placement of a DUI checkpoint
“The selection and operation of the roadblock checkpoint was in substantial compliance with the Tarbert/Blouse guidelines.” Safety concerns are a proper concern in selection of the place for a DUI checkpoint. Commonwealth v. Mercado, 2019 PA Super 63, 2019 Pa. … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Defense counsel’s decisions about motions to suppress are strategic under Strickland
In a post-conviction petition, defense counsel’s decisions about motions to suppress are strategic for Strickland purposes. Bagley v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31040 (W.D. Pa. Feb. 27, 2019). Defendant’s objection to the R&R for his lack of standing … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Meth possession is a ‘serious crime’ for purposes of a warrantless entry into a home for the destruction-of-evidence exception
The court “will not suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the BCSO deputies’ search. The Court agrees with the United States’ contentions that the BCSO deputies acted reasonably when they entered Cruz’ home without a warrant, because they satisfy the … Continue reading
techdirt: Seventh Circuit Ignores Two Supreme Court Decisions To Hand Out Bad Precedent On Cell Site Location Info
techdirt: Seventh Circuit Ignores Two Supreme Court Decisions To Hand Out Bad Precedent On Cell Site Location InfoSeventh Circuit Ignores Two Supreme Court Decisions To Hand Out Bad Precedent On Cell Site Location Info by Tim Cushing:
N.D.Ohio: Discovery of IP search software not permitted under Rule 16 after suppression denied; it won’t be coming up at trial
Defendant doesn’t get discovery of the Freenet software used to search for defendant’s IP address under the theory it might expose a problem with the search. This is really an attempt to inject the legality of the search into the … Continue reading
Law.com: Public Surveillance and Your Legal Right to Privacy
Law.com: Public Surveillance and Your Legal Right to Privacy by Cliff Rieders: In George Orwell’s “1984,” the citizens could at least see the screen that was watching them. Not so today. Surveillance is often ubiquitous—and because it may encompass public … Continue reading
CA1: Potential for immediate destruction of evidence in this case permitted entry onto the curtilage to check def’s truck
Defendant was accused of traveling from New Hampshire to Maine to shoot his wife after breaking in the house she was staying in. Officers in Maine reported to New Hampshire police the shooting, and they went to defendant’s house. They … Continue reading
Business Insider: This ER doctor is about to launch the first marijuana breathalyzer, and it could completely upend how we do drug testing
Business Insider: This ER doctor is about to launch the first marijuana breathalyzer, and it could completely upend how we do drug testing by Erin Brodwin
The Federalist Society: Justice Gorsuch, Carpenter, & the Fourth Amendment
The Federalist Society: Justice Gorsuch, Carpenter, & the Fourth Amendment [POLICYbrief] by Ashley Baker: