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Recent Posts
- N.D.Tex.: AUSA can summarize what the gov’t knows for SW application
- S.D.N.Y.: No right to quash SCA warrant before execution; remedies are after
- S.D.N.Y.: SW not based on mere speculation
- D.Mont.: Officers had RS for stop; it wasn’t based on the race of the suspects
- M.D.Pa.: SW for phone 19 months after alleged crimes showed PC
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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)
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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: October 2019
DE: SW for drugs allows search anywhere drugs may be hidden
A search warrant for drugs authorizes a search any place where drugs may be hidden. The fact other things are found that are evidence allows their seizure, too. Jackson v. State, 2019 Del. LEXIS 456 (Oct. 8, 2019). U.S. Probation … Continue reading
ID: State’s claim of exigency for warrantless entry into house was unsupported; suppression affirmed
Defendant was allegedly selling tainted marijuana from his house. Police did a warrantless entry with exigency as the excuse. There wasn’t any claim that anybody inside was in distress, and no questions about it. Suppression affirmed. State v. Sessions, 2019 … Continue reading
NJ: Def made showing for additional discovery to make Franks challenge
Defendant sought additional discovery to be able to pursue a Franks challenge, and it was denied, and that was error. “In sum, because defendant was not able to investigate anything in the detective’s affidavit by obtaining routine discovery that should … Continue reading
D.Md.: Failure to get a SW for BAC required suppression here; well established procedures were in place
A stop on a U.S. Park property led to a warrantless blood draw which is suppressed because there was no effort to get a warrant despite a well-known procedure in place to do so. “Further, the government’s argument that the … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Apt. number not required since specific location was given
The specific apartment number wasn’t given, but the physical and geographic location was, and that’s sufficient. “This description provided sufficient particularity for officers to locate the unit to be searched. Accordingly, the Court finds that the affidavit’s description of the … Continue reading
Democracy Now: FBI Carried Out Thousands of Unconstitutional Searches of NSA Archives
Democracy Now: FBI Carried Out Thousands of Unconstitutional Searches of NSA Archives:
ZDNet: Civil rights groups urge lawmakers to dissolve police partnerships with Ring
ZDNet: Civil rights groups urge lawmakers to dissolve police partnerships with Ring by Charlie Osborne (“It has been reported that roughly 400 US police departments are collaborating with the smart doorbell firm.”) ZDNet: iOS 13 tells you when apps are … Continue reading
CA11: There was RS others were in the house to justify a protective sweep which includes opening a closet
Officers had specific and articulable facts of persons that might be in the house, so a protective sweep was permitted. This included opening a closet door where an assault rifle was found. United States v. Solano-Mendoza, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
WRAL.com: Border Patrol agent accused of ‘textbook racial profiling’
WRAL.com: Border Patrol agent accused of ‘textbook racial profiling’ by David Sharp (“The U.S. Border Patrol’s suspicions about a family were aroused because they appeared to be of “Central-American origin” and because they spoke Spanish while shopping at a store … Continue reading
Two on Miranda custody
Defendant was not in custody for Miranda purposes. The officers went back and forth between him and his victim in his own house. He wasn’t restrained. The trial court erred in suppressing his statement. People v. Davis, 2019 CO 84, … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: A private actor who stole evidence as “insurance” was not an agent of the state for 4A purposes
“The evidence at best suggests that Young was securing the information he eventually turned over to the FBI from NWTM as a form of personal insurance against any action he suspected might be taken against him. There is no evidence … Continue reading
WSJ: FBI’s Use of Foreign-Surveillance Tool Violated Americans’ Privacy Rights, Court Found
WSJ: FBI’s Use of Foreign-Surveillance Tool Violated Americans’ Privacy Rights, Court Found by Dustin Volz and Byron Tau (“U.S. discloses ruling last year by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that FBI’s data queries of U.S. citizens were unconstitutional.”) NTImes: F.B.I. Practices … Continue reading
NYTimes: How We Spy on Each Other Every Day
NYTimes: How We Spy on Each Other Every Day by Thorin Klosowski (“Technology allows us to do it. Should we?”).
D.Neb.: POs came to def’s house, smelled meth, and had RS for a search
Defendant was on a parole and drew her PO’s suspicion when she said she was putting money on a card at CVS since she was unemployed. They made a home visit and smelled methamphetamine cooking. They had reasonable suspicion for … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Idaho fish and game checkpoints that minimally detain nonhunters and fishers isn’t likely a violation of 4A
Plaintiff sought a preliminary injunction against wildlife checkpoint stops that included nonhunters and fishers. The court finds that there is little likelihood of success on the merits. The state’s interest in protection of wildlife is high, and, on balance, the … Continue reading
D.Idaho: US Probation may enlist LEOs in conducting supervision search of cell phone
U.S. Probation was supervising defendant and they suspected child pornography on his cell phone. They enlisted HSI to search the phone. This did not violate federal law; USPO can get assistance to conduct a search. United States v. Johnson, 2019 … Continue reading
Cal.2: The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in PC determations for arrest; that’s to be litigated later
At a probable cause determination, the legality of the arrest for an attempt at applying the exclusionary rule isn’t appropriately litigated. That comes after the charges land in Superior Court. Barajas v. Appellate Div. of the Superior Court, 2019 Cal. … Continue reading
TN: Illegal warrantless search of cell phone was harmless error on this record
This is a second appeal from the Vanderbilt dorm rape cases. (The first is here.) The search warrant for defendant’s room and person allowed for seizure of his cell phone, but it wasn’t there. The police found it later and … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Alleged quantity of drugs can help overcome a staleness argument
“In conjunction with these [in the totality of] circumstances, Houser and Williams’ statements against their penal interest were sufficient to reasonably assure the magistrate that the information they provided was reliable.” While the fact defendant was dealing drugs from a … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Possession of a large quantity of drugs in car after just leaving house shows nexus to house for drugs
“‘A search warrant affidavit need not allege that unlawful activity occurred at the place to be searched; the affidavit need only establish a nexus between the place and the criminal activity.’ United States v. McCown, 762 F. App’x 732, 734 … Continue reading