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Recent Posts
- Volokh: Do Fourth Amendment Protections Change When Property Is Moved?
- M.D.Pa.: Def was neither shipper nor recipient of USPS parcel, so he had no standing in it
- WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
- WaPo: Apple, Google and Venmo fight new U.S. plan to monitor payment apps
- CA4: Tracking order using cell site simulator with PC was reasonable
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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) -
“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 -
"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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew "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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Monthly Archives: April 2019
MO: Warrantless blood draw from unresponsive person requires SW [issue also pending in SCOTUS]
The warrantless blood draw here was without exigent circumstances. The state instead relies on state statute, which the court finds a warrantless blood draw from an unresponsive person violates the Fourth Amendment. State v. Osborn, 2019 Mo. App. LEXIS 542 … Continue reading
EFF: Google’s Sensorvault Can Tell Police Where You’ve Been [It’s essentially CSLI but held by Google]
EFF: Google’s Sensorvault Can Tell Police Where You’ve Been by Jennifer Lynch. It’s essentially CSLI but held by Google:
D.N.J.: Presentation of fake driver’s license to get car from impound after alleged unlawful seizure was new crime and attenuated
Defendant’s presentation of a fake driver’s licenses to recover his car would not be suppressed. The argument that it is connected to defendant’s alleged unlawful seizure of the car fails because it was attenuated. United States v. Minaya, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
WA: Reversal for unreasonable search of cell phone was required, not dismissal
The court of appeals erred in dismissing defendant’s case rather than reversing for a new trial after cell phone evidence was suppressed. There was other untainted evidence the state could use to try to convict on a retrial. State v. … Continue reading
NY1: No due process violation in telling def he could bring cell phone to precinct house where it was ultimately seized
The state didn’t deny due process by telling defendant he could bring his phone with him to the precinct to talk with the officers because he would “probably be coming back.” Instead, they seized his phone then obtained a search … Continue reading
IA: SW for premises includes whole house, and bedroom of a visitor with a separate REP is still subject to search
Defendant was staying at the house of another when a search warrant for the premises was executed. He argued that his particular bedroom wasn’t subject to search under the warrant because he had a separate expectation of privacy in the … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Administrative PC shown for administrative search warrant
Two prior salmonella occurrences satisfied to justify probable cause for an administrative search. The motion for contempt for not providing passwords for the computers is premature. In re Admin., Establishment Insp. of Spa & Organic Essentials of Pa., LLC, 2019 … Continue reading
UCLA Anderson Review: Do Body Cams Give Police an Unintended Break?
UCLA Anderson Review: Do Body Cams Give Police an Unintended Break? by Carla Fried, featured research by Eugene M. Caruso Video from officer-worn cameras is judged less negatively than footage captured on dashboard cameras.
Gothamist: NY State Court System Rules No ICE Arrests In Courthouses Without A Judicial Warrant
Gothamist: NY State Court System Rules No ICE Arrests In Courthouses Without A Judicial Warrant by Jake Offenhartz:
DE: Jail cell seizure of trial and A-C privileged materials requires disqualification of entire prosecution team; dismissal order reversed
Prosecutors ordered a prison cell search of a murder defendant’s cell, and legal materials and trial strategy materials were seized. It started with a search to see if a protective order was violated, but it ended up being quite broad. … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: PC shown for def’s CSLI at time of murder
The affidavit for search warrant for CSLI for defendant’s phone was issued with probable cause. Defendant’s phone allegedly talked to the murder victim shortly before the murder, and it was reasonable to attempt to determine where the defendant’s phone was … Continue reading
CPO Magazine: EPIC Alleges Google May Be Helping US Government Conduct Warrantless Searches
CPO Magazine: EPIC Alleges Google May Be Helping US Government Conduct Warrantless Searches by Nicole Lindsey
CA8: Entry onto def’s back porch with arrest warrant was reasonable
The entry to defendant’s back porch was reasonable because he was there with an arrest warrant. On the back porch he saw some potential equipment for a meth lab. When the police applied for a search warrant, the product of … Continue reading
CA11 (en banc): Frisk in high crime area at 4 am produced ammunition and empty holster by plain feel
A frisk at 4 am in a high crime area was not only justified, it produced one round of ammunition and an empty holster by plain feel. That led to a search of the ground that produced the firearm. The … Continue reading
ScotusBlog: Argument preview: Justices to weigh constitutionality of state law allowing blood test of unconscious drivers without a warrant
ScotusBlog: Argument preview: Justices to weigh constitutionality of state law allowing blood test of unconscious drivers without a warrant by Amy Howe re Mitchell v. Wisconsin being argued April 23, 2019.
N.D.Ga.: IP information is not governed by Carpenter
IP information is not governed by Carpenter. “Obtaining information from Kik, Sprint, and Comcast did not allow law enforcement to track Defendant Jenkins’s physical location over an extended period. At most, it allowed them a lead in identifying him — … Continue reading
TN: Without affidavit for SW being in record, search issues waived
“Because the affidavit is not part of the record and because the Defendant includes no argument regarding the validity of the search warrant, we consider any challenge to the search conducted pursuant to the search warrant waived.” State v. Green, … Continue reading
Forbes: Utah Bans Police From Searching Digital Data Without A Warrant, Closes Fourth Amendment Loophole
Forbes: Utah Bans Police From Searching Digital Data Without A Warrant, Closes Fourth Amendment Loophole by Nick Sibilla:
Law.com: Artificial Intelligence and the Fourth Amendment: When Alexa Can Be a Witness Against You
Law.com: Artificial Intelligence and the Fourth Amendment: When Alexa Can Be a Witness Against You by Katherine B. Forrest: Today, artificial intelligence is actually able to provide much of the same evidence that human witnesses can, with a higher degree … Continue reading
NYT: The Privacy Project
NYT: The Privacy Project: