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- thedrive.com: Police Are Tagging Fleeing Cars With GPS Darts to Avoid Dangerous Pursuits
- CO: School search of serial offender under firearms “safety plan” was reasonable
- NYU L. Rev.: If Wheels Could Talk: Fourth Amendment Protections Against Police Access to Automobile Data
- Reason: Stop Your Car From Spying on You
- VA Lawyers Weekly: Officials denied immunity for strip searching jail nurse
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
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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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Section 1983 Blog -
"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) -
“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 -
"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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew "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)
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Monthly Archives: September 2021
RawStory: FBI used secret Google tracking data to nab Capitol rioters
RawStory: FBI used secret Google tracking data to nab Capitol rioters by John Wright (“Federal prosecutors have cited secretive ‘geofence’ warrants — which allow law enforcement to pinpoint cell-phone users’ precise locations over time — in 45 Capitol riot cases, … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Threat to arrest high school student for social media post about Covid violates 1A
Officer’s threatening to arrest a high school student and her parents for disorderly conduct if she didn’t take down a social media post about her exposure to Covid violated the First Amendment. Cohoon v. Konrath, No. 20-cv-0620-BHL (E.D.Wis. Sept. 24, … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Private collection of LPNs violates no right of privacy
Private collection of LPNs by automated readers at parking lots violates no right of privacy. “Similarly, Plaintiffs assert only in conclusory terms how they have been affected by Defendants’ allegedly unauthorized use of their ALPR data. Plaintiffs allege no facts … Continue reading
CA10: High speed chase justifies search under automobile exception
A high speed chase justifies an automobile exception search of the car when it’s finally stopped. Here there was a dog alert before. United States v. Chavez, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 29287 (10th Cir. Sept. 28, 2021). The rules of … Continue reading
CA10: Inventory was reasonable, and counsel’s admission at oral argument was binding
“For these reasons, we conclude that the officers had a reasonable, non-pretextual, community-caretaker rationale for impoundment: securing an uninsured vehicle on the side of a public road with inadequate taillights until a licensed driver with a legitimate connection to the … Continue reading
D.Md.: Exit border search doesn’t require particularized suspicion
The exit border search of defendant’s bags and computers was reasonable in this government fraud investigation. Particularized suspicion wasn’t even required, albeit present. United States v. Nkongho, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 184402 (D.Md. Sept. 27, 2021). Plaintiff’s stop for allegedly … Continue reading
D.Alaska: SW affidavit accidentally in the jury room during deliberations wasn’t looked at so no error
The search warrant affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s backpack accidentally went to the jury room in deliberations with the backpack. The court finds that this wasn’t error because 10 of the 12 jurors said they didn’t know that … Continue reading
CO: Abuse of discretion standard applies to expanding search issues on remand
The abuse of discretion standard applies to trial courts permitting the parties to make additional arguments or put on additional evidence on remand within the scope of the remand. The appellate court’s standard is rejected. People v. Tallent, 2021 CO … Continue reading
ID: State’s argument on timing of when RS arose changed on appeal, so it’s waived
The trial court invited the state to brief reasonable suspicion for the stop, but it instead relied exclusively on the community caretaking function. It argued below that reasonable suspicion developed after the stop. On appeal, it argued reasonable suspicion justified … Continue reading
PA: State failed to show nexus to house as “base of operations”
Police set up controlled buys with the defendant and watched. He left his home, went to one or two locations, went inside, came out, and drove to the place for the deal. Nexus was thus lacking to his house. The … Continue reading
LATimes: Greyhound settles lawsuit over immigration sweeps on buses
LATimes: Greyhound settles lawsuit over immigration sweeps on buses (“Greyhound Lines Inc. will pay $2.2 million to settle a lawsuit over the bus line’s practice of allowing U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to board its buses in Washington state … Continue reading
CT: SW for blood was independent source from extension of stop
The search warrant for defendant’s blood is a valid independent source from the alleged extension of the stop. State v. Fields, 2021 Conn. App. LEXIS 341 (Sept. 28, 2021).* The circumstances of this stop and arrest are objectively reasonable, so … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Three day seizure of inmate’s legal papers was reasonable
Jail seizure of plaintiff’s legal papers for three days was not unreasonable. “Here, Plaintiff has not shown that the seizure of his personal property by jail officials—during a disturbance he created—violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment. And Plaintiff acknowledges … Continue reading
OH1: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in probation revo proceedings
The exclusionary rule does not apply to probation revocation proceedings. (Defendant relies on a 1983 case overruled in 1996.) State v. Richardson, 2021-Ohio-3362, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 3302 (1st Dist. Sept. 24, 2021). Defendant’s 2255 reasserts numerous claims, one of … Continue reading
NV: Failure to complete inventory after finding gun in plain view was reasonable
The officer’s failure to complete the inventory after finding a gun in plain view and seizing it was reasonable under the circumstances. Jim v. State, 137 Nev. Adv. Op. 57, 2021 Nev. LEXIS 59 (Sept. 23, 2021):
D.S.C.: SW affidavit remains under seal; redaction not yet practical
Government shows grounds to keep this search warrant affidavit under seal for up to a year or when the court should revisit it. Redaction is impractical. In the Matter of the Application of the United States of America for a … Continue reading
The Intercept: Federal Prisons’ Switch To Scanning Mail Is A Surveillance Nightmare
The Intercept: Federal Prisons’ Switch To Scanning Mail Is A Surveillance Nightmare (“The Bureau of Prisons has piloted a program that can give authorities ‘huge secret intelligence into the public sender of postal mail.’”) Politico: Covert Postal Service unit probed … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Listing inventory on police report and not inventory sheet not unreasonable
“Therefore, the officers’ decision to list the items recovered during the inventory search in the Incident Report and not on the Impound Report does not invalidate the inventory search.” United States v. Morris, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182946 (E.D.Mich. Sept. … Continue reading
VT: Roving CBP patrol stop one mile from Canadian border violated state const. even though probably not 4A
A roving border patrol stop a mile from the Canadian border led to state charges against defendant. The court holds the state constitution was violated even if the Fourth Amendment was not, and the evidence should be suppressed. State v. … Continue reading