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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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: June 2019
S.D.Ind.: Def’s 2255 4A IAC claim was speculative at best and denied
Defendant claims his attorney was ineffective for failing to tell him about a possible motion to suppress, and, thus, he wouldn’t have pled guilty. The court, however, finds no facts anywhere in the case supporting even an inference there was … Continue reading
DE: Def was subjected to a warrantless CSLI search in 2016, and Carpenter came before judgment was entered; CSLI was harmless BRD here
Defendant was the subject of a CSLI order issued without probable cause in 2016 to connect him to a murder. Carpenter was issued before he was sentenced and thus applies to his case. [Without even discussing the good faith exception … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: SW for text messages prior to date of offense suppressed, after date were proper
The issuing magistrate properly issued a search warrant for text messages on defendant’s cell phone for a particular date and thereafter by inference. Prior to that particular date is suppressed for lack of probable cause. United States v. Bowen, 2019 … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Failure to leave a copy of the SW does not require suppression
Failure to leave a copy of the search warrant does not require suppression. There is no prejudice. United States v. Robinson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99902 (E.D. Mich. June 14, 2019). The CI was creditable because of admissions against interest … Continue reading
Reason: Can the Fourth Amendment Save Us from the Coming Era of Pervasive Biometric Surveillance?
Reason: Can the Fourth Amendment Save Us from the Coming Era of Pervasive Biometric Surveillance? by Ronald Bailey: New technologies mean new crime solving techniques—and new threats to privacy and liberty.
WaPo: Federal task forces ban body cameras, so Atlanta police pull out. Others may follow.
WaPo: Federal task forces ban body cameras, so Atlanta police pull out. Others may follow. by Tom Jackman: No Justice Department agents or officers use cameras, while local police are moving toward transparency.
E.D.Mich.: Jones didn’t alter the automobile exception
The automobile exception is intact as it always was, and Jones didn’t do anything to change the calculus. United States v. Lee, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99900 (E.D. Mich. June 14, 2019). The government proved that it would have otherwise … Continue reading
CA11: “Rule 41(g) is not an appropriate vehicle for the return of property seized by civil forfeiture.”
“Rule 41(g) is not an appropriate vehicle for the return of property seized by civil forfeiture.” United States v. Bynum, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 17510 (11th Cir. June 12, 2019). Defendant’s claim there was a reasonable expectation of privacy as … Continue reading
D.N.M.: When PC is based on an IP address, any computer or cell phone on the premises can be the subject of the SW
Any computer or cell phone on the premises can reasonably be believed to have connected to the internet. “Nevertheless, Ms. Laurezo does not cite to any authority that requires a search warrant based on an IP address being used to … Continue reading
ID: Right-result, wrong-theory rule requires preservation of the alternative argument
The state can’t use the right-result, wrong-theory rule when it doesn’t preserve the alternative argument to give the other party the opportunity to develop the record. State v. Hoskins, 2019 Ida. LEXIS 108 (June 13, 2019). The evidence available to … Continue reading
NYTimes: Opinion: In Stores, Secret Surveillance Tracks Your Every Move
NYTimes: Opinion: In Stores, Secret Surveillance Tracks Your Every Move by Michael Kwet: As you shop, “beacons” are watching you, using hidden technology in your phone.
RI: IP address in CP case is PC for the premises
Rhode Island decides for the first time that IP information in a child pornography case is probable cause for the building at that location. Yes, it could be another person at that address, but that’s not the point. In re … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Sole witness on standing isn’t believable because of prior inconsisent statement
The witness on standing gave two inconsistent versions: under oath and to the police and the court cannot credit her. “Importantly, Defendant has offered no proof, other than Ms. Harris’s testimony, that he was an overnight guest in the Apartment. … Continue reading
Reason: The Feds Want To Subject Every Burning Man Attendee to a Warrantless Drug Search
Reason: The Feds Want To Subject Every Burning Man Attendee to a Warrantless Drug Search by Brian Doherty: The Bureau of Land Management sees no Fourth Amendment concerns with searching American citizens for reasons to arrest them without probable cause … Continue reading
NYTimes: How Surveillance Cameras Could Be Weaponized With A.I.
NYTimes: How Surveillance Cameras Could Be Weaponized With A.I.bBy Niraj Chokshi: Advances in artificial intelligence could supercharge surveillance cameras, allowing footage to be constantly monitored and instantly analyzed, the A.C.L.U. warned in a new report.
CA9: Immigration detention without RS or PC subject to suppression
Defendant was entitled to suppress the evidence of his alienage because the government detained him without reasonable suspicion. The government gets no safe harbor in Summers because the purpose of the detention was rounding up foreign nationals to remove them. … Continue reading
NACDL Fourth Amendment Center: Compelled Decryption Primer
NACDL Fourth Amendment Center: Compelled Decryption Primer:
Reason: Can the Fourth Amendment Save Us from the Coming Era of Pervasive Biometric Surveillance?
Reason: Can the Fourth Amendment Save Us from the Coming Era of Pervasive Biometric Surveillance? by Ronald Bailey: New technologies mean new crime solving techniques—and new threats to privacy and liberty.
LA3: “Defendant may not retreat to the curtilage of his home to avoid arrest.”
“Defendant may not retreat to the curtilage of his home to avoid arrest.” State v. Nolan, 2019 La. App. LEXIS 1085 (La. App. 3 Cir. June 12, 2019). The smell of marijuana was justification for search of defendant’s person. A … Continue reading
IL: GPS monitoring of food trucks to keep them 200′ from restaurants was reasonable
The City of Chicago requires GPS monitoring of food trucks to make sure they stay 200′ away from a regular restaurant or in food truck zones is reasonably related to the city’s interest in promoting viability of restaurants in the … Continue reading