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- 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)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (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: February 2020
CA5: A dead man is not one of the “people” of the 4A
The estate of a dead man has no Fourth Amendment claim for a search warrant allegedly unreasonably obtained after the death for aggravated assault by the deceased allegedly “‘as a pretext for investigation into [Mr.] Blanchard’s history’ and to ‘besmirch … Continue reading
OH8: Removing part of dashboard during inventory was unreasonable
The license plate holder blocked most of the registration sticker, and that justified the stop. The smell of marijuana justified a further search of the car, and, finding a warrant on the driver, the police impounded the car. Removing part … Continue reading
NY: Charging document for charge of attempting to avoid execution of a SW was defective for not pleading it
Defendant was charged with obstruction for backing away from officers attempting to search his car with a warrant. The charging document lacked a specific statement of that and should have been dismissed. People v. Wheeler, 2020 NY Slip Op 00998, … Continue reading
MA: “Observing” a controlled buy from outside an apartment building is not corroboration of the CI
“Observing” a controlled buy from outside an apartment building is not corroboration of the informant under the state constitution. They didn’t see what apartment was involved. Commonwealth v. Ponte, 2020 Mass. App. LEXIS 16 (Feb. 13, 2020). The area surveillance … Continue reading
CA5: 4A claim first raised in reply brief on appeal is waived
“Cordova has forfeited his stand-alone Fourth Amendment claim by raising it for the first time in his reply brief.” And it would have to be reviewed for plain error, which it’s not. United States v. Cordova, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Me.: Govt failed to prove frisk was for safety reasons; it was really a search for drugs without RS
The officers didn’t testify to a safety reason for a frisk, and the dashcam video did not support it either. Moreover, this was not a frisk for weapons; it was a search for drugs and it was without reasonable suspicion. … Continue reading
NYTimes: Activate This ‘Bracelet of Silence,’ and Alexa Can’t Eavesdrop
NYTimes: Activate This ‘Bracelet of Silence,’ and Alexa Can’t Eavesdrop by Nathaniel Hill (“Microphones and cameras lurk everywhere. You may want to slip on some privacy armor.”)
PA: Robber had no REP in proof of his wifi connection on property of another when committing the robbery
Defendant was accused of a 2 am robbery and assault in a dorm on the Moravian College campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Campus police checked the wifi connections and found three at 2 am that were not residents of the dorm. … Continue reading
CA9: Unobjected to supervised release search condition was reasonable
Defendant’s supervised release unobjected to search condition is reviewed for plain error and found reasonable from his criminal history. United States v. Oseguera, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 4350 (9th Cir. Feb. 10, 2020).* Giving deference to the state court affidavit … Continue reading
Guardian: No, Clearview AI’s creepy plan to spy on us is not ‘free speech’
Guardian: No, Clearview AI’s creepy plan to spy on us is not ‘free speech’ by Jake Laperruque
N.D.Cal.: Smell of raw MJ from passenger compartment wasn’t RS in California
The stop was justified by a lane change violation on Lombard Street in San Francisco, but the continuation of the stop lacked any reasonable suspicion. Defendant was driving a rental car that had been loaned to the passenger whose mother … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: RS arose from domestic argument officer could hear
The officer responded to what sounded like a fight and that was reasonable suspicion. Added to that was defendant’s furtive movements when the officer got there. Defendant’s actions also supported a protective search of the vehicle. United States v. Blount, … Continue reading
Slate: Greyhound Won’t Commit to Protecting Its Passengers From Racial Profiling Despite CBP Guidance
Slate: Greyhound Won’t Commit to Protecting Its Passengers From Racial Profiling Despite CBP Guidance by Jeremy Stahl:
The State: Stop and frisk: SC Supreme Court splits on racial lines in case about cops and race
The State: Stop and frisk: SC Supreme Court splits on racial lines in case about cops and race by John Monk (“The S.C. Supreme Court split on racial lines this week in a 3-2 decision involving whether Columbia area police … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Shotspotter’s negative report belied the anonymous CI and made reliance on the CI unreasonable
The Shotspotter’s negative report of shots fired immediately known by the police contradicted their anonymous CI and made defendant’s stop unreasonable. United States v. King, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23208 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 11, 2020). The co-occupant of defendant’s trailer … Continue reading
CA11: CoA granted to pursue 4A IAC claim
2255 appellant gets a CoA to appeal an ineffective assistance of counsel that defense counsel did not pursue a valid motion to suppress. (A prima facie case was apparently made.) Spriggs v. United States, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 4162 (11th … Continue reading
CA9: Motion to suppress tax records obtained by IRS because his “private property interests” were invaded wasn’t presented below and is waived
“Galloway next argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the IRS’s warrantless inspection of his financial records violated his private-property interests under the Fourth Amendment. But Galloway ‘never requested suppression on this ground in … Continue reading
CA5: Unjustified pepper spraying inmate stated claim for relief
Pepper spraying a prison inmate for no apparent reason (maybe just throwing a wad of toilet paper at the guard and having thrown water at him before) stated a claim. McCoy v. Alamu, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 4188 (5th Cir. … Continue reading
Reason.com: The Supreme Court Tackles Police Shootings, Excessive Force, and the Fourth Amendment
Reason.com: The Supreme Court Tackles Police Shootings, Excessive Force, and the Fourth Amendment by Damon Root (“What’s at stake in Torres v. Madrid.”)