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)
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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: April 2021
W.D.Pa.: Def can show standing from govt’s papers, including affidavit for SW, and its case at suppression hearing
The defendant has the burden of showing standing, if raised, but he doesn’t have to testify to do it. The affidavit for the warrant here said the place to be searched was defendant’s and that’s enough. Other cases in this … Continue reading
Reason: Cops Are Using Facial Recognition Technology More Than Previously Revealed
Reason: Cops Are Using Facial Recognition Technology More Than Previously Revealed by J.D. Tuccille (“The surveillance state is available as a plug-and-play solution for any cop interested in a free trial period.”)
W.D.Tenn.: CI’s tip def had a gun was corroborated by def discarding it in view of officers
Police received a CI’s tip defendant had a gun. The tip alone lacked reliability until the officer saw defendant discard it. “Notably, the reasonable suspicion standard does not present the most demanding hurdle to overcome. See Kansas v. Glover, 140 … Continue reading
ID: Violation of citizen’s arrest statute not a const’l violation; no suppression
The officer arrested defendant for a completed misdemeanor of stealing a cell phone not occurring in his presence. The manager of the place where it happened wanted defendant arrested. The officer and the manager never informed defendant this was a … Continue reading
OR: State didn’t develop its argument about RS at the hearing, and it’s found waived
The state’s justification for inquiries about travel plans isn’t reached on appeal because it wasn’t briefed or even developed below. Instead, the questions about it related only to initial reasonable suspicion. “We conclude that the record could have developed differently … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Affidavit of convicted felon who may have been conspirator and was deported wasn’t sufficient offer of proof under Franks in face of other evidence
Defendant’s claim was that alleged cocaine wrappers found were actually wrappers for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and that’s a Franks violation. “The only evidence that Defendant has produced to support his contention that the bags contained sandwiches is the … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Pole cam observation of def with blunt was RS for stop
Zooming in on a pole cam video, officers determined that defendant had a blunt in his hand when he was getting in his car. The question is reasonable suspicion, and officers don’t have to exhaust the innocent possibilities before acting … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Warrantless arrest with PC in public place is reasonable
Defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when he was arrested without a warrant with probable cause in a public place. Reaching in defendant’s sweat shirt pocket to retrieve a gun was reasonable. United States v. Kelly-Sizer, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
CA6: Pre-Carpenter cell site simulator use reasonable by GFE
Defendant’s 2255 claim that the government used a cell site simulator prior to Carpenter to capture his unlisted burner phone numbers is saved by the good faith exception. Powell v. United States, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 9850 (6th Cir. Apr. … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Ptf inmate’s unreasonable prison strip search case survives screening
Plaintiff, an inmate at Corcoran, stated enough to survive screening for his prison strip search case. Jacobs v. CDCR, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66813 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 6, 2021):
S.D.Ala.: Younger doctrine precludes ptf’s 4A claim over pending state criminal case
Plaintiff’s false arrest claim claiming, inter alia, a Fourth Amendment violation, two years into his pending state criminal case was barred by the Younger doctrine. Sweeting v. Garrett, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66705 (S.D. Ala. Apr. 6, 2021). Under Washington’s … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Particularity for the property to be searched was shown
Defendant showed standing on the totality to challenge the search of the property where he rented a room. Particularity was shown for the place to be searched. United States v. Dolphay, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66415 (D. Mont. Apr. 6, … Continue reading
CA8: Warrantless seizure of computer in fraud case was reasonable because of exigency
The warrantless seizure of defendant’s computer was justified by exigent circumstances that it contained evidence of fraud. United States v. Mays, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 9861 (8th Cir. Apr. 6, 2021). “Because we conclude that the officer’s initial question about … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: Def’s motion to unseal SW affidavit denied because of ongoing investigation
Defendant’s motion to unseal the affidavit for the search warrant is denied because of an ongoing investigation it would reveal and because he can’t show a lack of probable cause for the search. United States v. Calleta, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Crime Stoppers tip was sufficiently corroborated to show PC
Crime Stoppers tip was sufficiently corroborated to show probable cause [under Gates]. United States v. Gaston, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65724 (D. Minn. Apr. 5, 2021):
OH12: Stop of bicyclist for no light produced arrest warrant; valid under Strieff
Defendant was stopped on his bicycle for no headlight, and that led to finding an arrest warrant for him. Under Strieff, the legality of the stop becomes almost irrelevant to the search incident for the arrest warrant as attenuated. State … Continue reading