Archives
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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)
--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: June 2020
WV: Domestic disturbance call with injuries justified warrantless entry
Police responded to a domestic disturbance call and found defendant’s wife injured and distraught. They entered the house without an arrest or search warrant to find defendant, and he was in bed. They asked him to show his hands to … Continue reading
NJ: Destruction by policy of audio of telephonic SW application required suppression even without bad faith
This case proceeded on a telephonic search warrant where the application was recorded as required by law. The recording, however, was destroyed in 90 days under the department’s records retention policy. While the destruction wasn’t in bad faith, the recording … Continue reading
WI: OUI justifies Gant search incident of vehicle based at least on RS evidence might be found
Arrest for OUI permits a search incident of the interior of defendant’s car for evidence of the offense under Gant based at least on reasonable suspicion. “[P1] We review a decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court … Continue reading
D.Colo: TRO granted against excessive force or use of chemical agents against peaceful protestors
Abay v. City of Denver, 20-cv-01616-RBJ (D. Colo. June 5, 2020, 8:39 pm):
CA3: Officer was face-to-face with citizen informant in a high-crime area about man with a gun; it was sufficiently reliable
“Officer Pickel received a tip that Torres, just moments before, had discharged a firearm in a high-crime area. A brief encounter with police ensued. Only thirty-five seconds elapsed between the time when Officer Pickel ordered Torres to stop and when … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: First class mail is closed to Customs inspection; priority mail is not
There is a reasonable expectation of privacy in first class mail and mail with full postage from a customs search coming into the Virgin Islands. 19 C.F.R. § 145.1. Priority class mail is subject to customs inspection. United States v. … Continue reading
NM: What was intended for SW and what it says are two different things
The search warrant request for plaintiff’s person and vehicle resulted only in a warrant for the vehicle. What the defendant officer intended doesn’t count in the face of the clear warrant. A forced rectal search and x-ray at a hospital … Continue reading
Courthouse News Service: New House Bill Would Revoke ‘Qualified Immunity’ for Police
Courthouse News Service: New House Bill Would Revoke ‘Qualified Immunity’ for Police by Thomas Harrison (“The bill would eliminate qualified immunity, the ability of police officers to argue they acted in good faith when they violated someone’s constitutional rights. It … Continue reading
Three on Franks
Defendant’s Franks challenge was properly rejected because assuming the challenged information was out of the affidavit, probable cause still exists. United States v. Carrasco, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 17553 (9th Cir. June 4, 2020).* In a civil rights case, the … Continue reading
CA11: Nervousness and some other things don’t rise to RS
There was no reasonable suspicion for defendant’s continued detention after his traffic stop. The officer testified he was more nervous than normal, but the court couldn’t see it on the video. Each of the government’s arguments for reasonable suspicion on … Continue reading
SCOTUS conferencing 10 qualified immunity cases today
Probably the results of the conference on Monday. See WaPo: Supreme Court asked to reconsider immunity available to police accused of brutality
“America was neither founded, nor freed, by the well-behaved.”
— Semmes Luckett Jr. of Clarksdale, Mississippi [This was posted on July 4, 2010 & 2012]
E.D.Cal.: Material information relevant to a Franks challenge was withheld by the gov’t, and the court finds a Brady violation
Material information relevant to a Franks challenge was withheld by the government, and the court finds a Brady violation. If known to defendant, the outcome might have been different. United States v. Sheikh, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97663 (E.D. Cal. … Continue reading
CNET: Geofence warrants: How police get data from all devices in targeted areas
CNET: Geofence warrants: How police get data from all devices in targeted areas by Alfred Ng (“The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is also challenging the constitutionality of geofence warrants in a Virginia case. The organization argues that geofence … Continue reading
ND: Parole search of cell phone after def incarcerated reasonable
The parole search of defendant’s cell phone after he was incarcerated was valid. Here, the officers had reasonable suspicion. (The court saves for another day whether such a search without reasonable suspicion would be valid.) State v. Powley, 2020 ND … Continue reading
NJ: No REP in text messages in recipient’s cell phone
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages in the receiving cell phone. The court also discusses the third party doctrine as to private persons. State v. Armstrong, 2020 N.J. Super. LEXIS 86 (June 2, 2020). Defendant’s conclusory … Continue reading
TX14: No RS for going up to parked car in parking lot without RS
The officer did not have reasonable suspicion to stop and talk to defendant sitting in a car with another in a parking lot at night doing nothing. The area was considered high crime, but there was nothing suggesting any need … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Search incident of backpack cut off handcuffed def was still proper
“In the instant case, as in Perdoma, even though Hill was handcuffed at the time of the search, the circumstances leading up to the search justified the warrantless search. Hill, the subject of a valid arrest warrant, appeared to be … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Def’s claim the warrant for his Facebook account is akin to Carpenter and CSLI fails as completely speculative and an admitted “guess”
United States v. Cox, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97326 (N.D. Ind. June 3, 2020):
GA: Trash search here didn’t provide nexus to def’s house
Because the time and manner of the placement of the trash here presented no factual confidence that the trash came solely from defendant’s house, the trial court was permitted here to conclude that the trash came from more than one … Continue reading