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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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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
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: May 2019
Cleveland.com: Cleveland police must detail why officers stop and search suspects under new policies
Cleveland.com: Cleveland police must detail why officers stop and search suspects under new policies by Eric Heisig, CLEVELAND, Ohio — The city of Cleveland’s new police search and seizure policies should be approved by a judge so officers can be … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Gov’t proved exigency for warrantless cell phone ping
Defendant’s cell phone was pinged based on exigency. Defendant claims that it was false. “However, the salient facts on which Sgt. O’Rourke based his request are clearly borne out by the evidence.” United States v. Andrews, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
Three on waiver
2255 petitioner’s claim that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated was waived by his unconditional plea. His claim defense counsel was ineffective was conclusory. On the merits, the search warrant was constitutionally particular. Buford v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
OH4: Def’s coming to site of execution of SW and then hanging around next door justified a detention and frisk
Defendant came to the site of execution of a search warrant and was justifiably detained. “First, the court found that Deputy Robison was justified as part of his efforts to secure a safe search site because Collins arrived on the … Continue reading
CA5: When both PC and GFE are appealed, both have to be argued on appeal or both are waived
When probable cause and the good faith exception are both decided by the district court, both must be argued on appeal or the whole issue of the validity of the warrant is waived for appeal. “We note initially that Huerta … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Franks doesn’t apply to grand jury testimony and resulting subpoenas
Franks doesn’t apply to grand jury testimony and resulting subpoenas. United States v. Tolbert, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76939 (D. N.M. May 7, 2019):
NC: Failure to object to satellite-based monitoring in trial court was waiver
Defendant didn’t raise the constitutionality of satellite-based monitoring in the trial court, so it’s waived for appeal. He also can’t bring it up by certiorari. State v. DeJesus, 2019 N.C. App. LEXIS 384 (May 7, 2019). Reasonable suspicion developed at … Continue reading
CA11: Petitioner’s 2255 fails for speculation and then lack of showing of prejudice
Petitioner’s 2255 fails for speculation and then lack of showing of prejudice. “First, Mathis asserted that counsel was ineffective for failing to fully investigate the forensic evidence to discover that his cell phone had been accessed by law enforcement prior … Continue reading
Shawdowproof: Detroit Police Spent More than Half Million Dollars on Cell-site Simulator to Track People’s Locations
Shawdowproof: Detroit Police Spent More than Half Million Dollars on Cell-site Simulator to Track People’s Locations by Camille Fassett:
OH12: Package in transit was reasonably briefly detained for dog sniff
Briefly detaining a package in transit at least on reasonable suspicion for a dog sniff was reasonable and not a seizure of the package. They were staying at a local B&B and received two FedEx packages there, one under an … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Entry to deal with mental health crisis was with exigent circumstances
Police get a tip that plaintiff was a mental health danger to himself or others, and they entered his house with a mental health professional to examine him. That person found plaintiff in need of involuntary commitment. “All of those … Continue reading
Reason: San Francisco a Step Closer to Banning Police Use of Facial Recognition Surveillance
Reason: San Francisco a Step Closer to Banning Police Use of Facial Recognition Surveillance by Ronald Bailey:
D.Minn.: No nexus whatsoever between offense and evidence sought and place to be searched; therefore, no GFE
There was no nexus shown at all between the affidavit for the search warrant between the evidence sought and the place to be searched. The good faith exception doesn’t rescue the search here because the affidavit is, in fact, so … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Implicit Racial Bias and Students’ Fourth Amendment Rights
New Law Review Article: Jason P. Nance, Implicit Racial Bias and Students’ Fourth Amendment Rights, 94 Ind. L. J. 47 (2019):
AP: Michigan city asks full court to hear parking ticket case :: the “tire chalking case”
AP: Michigan city asks full court to hear parking ticket case by Ed White. The case is posted here and here. The tire chalking case gets a petition for rehearing en banc filed. No case, except maybe Carpenter, was the … Continue reading
Reason: A Leftist Makes the Case for Originalism
Reason: A Leftist Makes the Case for Originalism by Damon Root What’s worse for the left, a conservative originalist or a conservative living constitutionalist?
NJ still has an automobile exception that doesn’t require a warrant on exigency
The automobile exception in New Jersey isn’t as stringent as it previously was in Witt. Officers can elect to search under the automobile exception on the street or later at impound, and a search warrant is always required. State v. … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Probation search def wins motion in limine to keep probation records out of jury trial
Defendant was arrested as a result of a probation search. The government succeeds in a motion in limine that the probation records aren’t admissible in the hearing in the prosecution. United States v. Flores, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74506 (C.D. … Continue reading