Archives
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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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: December 2019
N.D.Ill.: Removing drugs from a package with an already issued anticipatory warrant and not telling court wasn’t material to PC
There was no material falsity in the affidavit for the search warrant which mentioned 58 prior international shipments to defendant’s place. Specifically, the drugs were removed from the package for the anticipatory warrant and replaced with fake stuff after the … Continue reading
CA9: There is no heightened duty of a court to better explain the supervised release search condition
There is no heightened liberty interest in defendant’s being subjected to supervised release searches that require a heightened explanation from the court when it’s imposed. United States v. San Nicolas, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 37093 (9th Cir. Dec. 16, 2019). … Continue reading
techdirt: Second Circuit Says Warrantless Backdoor Searches Of NSA Collections Might Violate The Fourth Amendment
techdirt: Second Circuit Says Warrantless Backdoor Searches Of NSA Collections Might Violate The Fourth Amendment by Tim Cushing:
Getting caught up
Had two day jury trial this week which took several days of preparation as well. But, the next 12 days will be slow for work and the cases coming in, as always, so I’ll get caught up presumably by 12/25
NYTimes: Many Facial-Recognition Systems Are Biased, Says U.S. Study
NYTimes: Many Facial-Recognition Systems Are Biased, Says U.S. Study by Natasha Singer and Cade Metz (“Algorithms falsely identified African-American and Asian faces 10 to 100 times more than Caucasian faces, researchers for the National Institute of Standards and Technology found.”)
Lawfare: Appeals Court Considers Fourth Amendment Violations in FISA Section 702 Surveillance Case
Lawfare: Appeals Court Considers Fourth Amendment Violations in FISA Section 702 Surveillance Case by Gordon Ahl (“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the case of Agron Hasbajrami should be returned to the district court level … Continue reading
NYTimes: Opinion: The Privacy Project || Smartphones Are Spies. Here’s Who They Report To.
NYTimes: Opinion: The Privacy Project || Smartphones Are Spies. Here’s Who They Report To. by Stuart A. Thompson and Charlie Warzel: Your smartphone is probably sending your precise location to companies right now. Their job is to turn your shopping … Continue reading
SCOTUS cert grant: Torres v. Madrid: Is a person shot driving away from the police “seized”?
Torres v. Madrid, 19-292 (granted Dec. 18, 2019): Issue: Whether an unsuccessful attempt to detain a suspect by use of physical force is a “seizure” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the … Continue reading
NYTimes: The Chilling Reality of Bias at the F.B.I.
NYTimes: The Chilling Reality of Bias at the F.B.I. by Julian Sanchez (“Americans deserve a stronger assurance than “hope” that their Fourth Amendment rights are being respected.”)
NYTimes: Your Landlord Could Know That You’re Not at Home Right Now
NYTimes: Your Landlord Could Know That You’re Not at Home Right Now by Michael McKee (“Key fobs and other smart-access technologies make it easier for us to get in and out of our homes — but they’re also a privacy … Continue reading
WaPo: Surveillance court demands answers from FBI for errors, omissions in Trump campaign probe
WaPo: Surveillance court demands answers from FBI for errors, omissions in Trump campaign probe by Devlin Barrett (“The court said the FBI’s conduct was “antithetical” to how the foreign intelligence surveillance program is supposed to work.”)
Fox News: GOP push to reform FISA gains momentum in wake of Horowitz report
Fox News: GOP push to reform FISA gains momentum in wake of Horowitz report by Hollie McKay
Brietbart: Pollak: House Democrats Violated the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments in Impeachment Inquiry [No they didn’t.]
Brietbart: Pollak: House Democrats Violated the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments in Impeachment Inquiry by Joel Pollack:
OH12: Probation and its search condition doesn’t end with probationer’s arrest; house could be searched later
Defendant’s girlfriend was on probation, and she thus “consented” in advance to searches. She confessed during a probation visit that she used drugs, and they arrested her and then searched her and defendant’s place based on her probation search condition. … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Gen. Flynn’s guilty plea waived his speculative 4A/Brady claim; even if not waived, what he speculates wasn’t material
General Flynn’s 2017 guilty plea waived his claim that there was allegedly Brady material that was favorable to his case that he was set up by the FBI. First of all, the guilty plea waives the Fourth Amendment claim, Brady … Continue reading
D.Md.: Even with MJ decrim, smell of MJ from a vehicle is still PC by statute and state case law
According to the state courts and statute, the smell of marijuana from a van was still probable cause in Maryland despite decriminalization. The search of the vehicle and a backpack within was thus lawful. United States v. Palacio, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
HI: Officer was aware house had two living units; SW didn’t specify which and search suppressed
The officer obtaining the search warrant was aware that there were two separate units in this dwelling, an upstairs and a downstairs. He also knew there were stairs and separate entrances. The upstairs was one color, and the downstairs another. … Continue reading
ND: Emergency entry into on-duty police officer’s home was reasonable when he didn’t come back from extended lunch break and patrol car was outside running and he didn’t answer radio, phone, or door
Defendant was a police officer who sought and was allowed a two hour lunch break. When he didn’t come back from lunch and he didn’t answer his radio or cell phone, the department dispatched another officer to his house. Outside, … Continue reading
D.N.M.: A SW for CP doesn’t need to be limited to only devices on the premises police think were used; all can be searched
In a search warrant for child pornography, the warrant does not have to attempt to be limited to the only devices that the officers think downloaded the images; all devices on the premises can be searched, following codefendant’s case, United … Continue reading
Bloomberg Law: New Appeals Test for Medical Prescription Warrantless Searches
Bloomberg Law: New Appeals Test for Medical Prescription Warrantless Searches by John Nancarrow (“A federal appeals court could rule anytime on whether law enforcement needs a warrant to access information on people’s prescription drug use from state databases—a case that’s … Continue reading