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Recent Posts
- M.D.Fla.: Denying knowledge of the car involved was a lack of standing
- CA3: Conviction for threats by internet justified supervised release condition of computer monitoring
- D.Ariz.: USPO can turn phone seized in supervised release over to FBI
- Reason: “the Supreme Court’s oral argument yesterday in Barnes v. Felix will be noteworthy.”
- E.D.Mich.: “Imprint” of a gun in the pocket can be RS def is carrying
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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Monthly Archives: June 2022
NBC News: Police sweep Google searches to find suspects. The tactic is facing its first legal challenge
NBC News: Police sweep Google searches to find suspects. The tactic is facing its first legal challenge by Jon Schuppe (“Privacy advocates are watching the case closely, concerned that police could use reverse keyword searches to investigate people who seek … Continue reading
Reason: This Innocent Woman’s House Was Destroyed by a SWAT Team. A Jury Says She’s Owed $60,000
Reason: This Innocent Woman’s House Was Destroyed by a SWAT Team. A Jury Says She’s Owed $60,000 by Sam Binion (“When Vicki Baker cleared out her home in McKinney, Texas, in 2020, she filled two 40-foot dumpsters with her belongings. … Continue reading
The Intercept: Cryptocurrency Titan Coinbase Providing “Geo Tracking Data” to ICE
The Intercept: Cryptocurrency Titan Coinbase Providing “Geo Tracking Data” to ICE by Sam Biddle (“ICE is now able to track transactions made through nearly a dozen different digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether.”)
WY: Pending drug case is not RS, but it is “a piece of the puzzle”
The collective knowledge of two officers justified this stop. One defendant’s pending drug case was not reasonable suspicion itself, but it was “a piece of the puzzle.” Guandong v. State, 2022 WY 83, 2022 Wyo. LEXIS 83 (June 28, 2022). … Continue reading
CO: State can’t pile hunch on hunch to try to get to PC
“Colorado State Patrol (‘CSP’) Trooper Christian Bollen had a hunch, and then another hunch, and then another hunch. And he acted on those hunches, despite a circumstance directly undermining them.” “An officer’s hunch is insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion to … Continue reading
The Hill: Period tracking apps are trying to protect users’ privacy now that Roe is overturned
The Hill: Period tracking apps are trying to protect users’ privacy now that Roe is overturned by Shirin Ali (“Flo, a period tracker app that’s used by 200 million users worldwide, announced it was developing an anonymous mode which will … Continue reading
WaPo: Agents seize phone of lawyer who pushed Trump false elector claims
WaPo: Agents seize phone of lawyer who pushed Trump false elector claims by Devlin Barrett (“John Eastman, a lawyer who lobbied for Mike Pence to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election, is fighting the phone seizure”) The … Continue reading
CA9: Inventory of backpack no one would claim was reasonable
The seizure and inventory of a backpack in a car was reasonable where neither of the occupants could say who it belonged to. United States v. Montano, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 17544 (9th Cir. June 24, 2022).* Plaintiff cannot claim … Continue reading
Bustle: This Netflix Doc Shows How An IRS Scammer Uncovered Secret Spy Technology
Bustle: This Netflix Doc Shows How An IRS Scammer Uncovered Secret Spy Technology by Gretchen Smail (referring to Stringray):
MSNBC: In post-Roe America, your cell phone is now a reproductive privacy risk
MSNBC: In post-Roe America, your cell phone is now a reproductive privacy risk by Tiffany C. Li (“Now that Roe v. Wade has fallen, states that choose to criminalize abortion can start buying and subpoenaing consumer data.”) WaPo: With Roe … Continue reading
WI: ShotSpotter alert and furtive movements within 60 seconds of alert is RS
Wisconsin explains ShotSpotter alerts and developing reasonable suspicion. Officers arrived almost immediately without lights and sirens and looked for people. They saw the defendant who was acting evasively. That, with the alert, was reasonable suspicion. State v. Nimmer, 2022 WI … Continue reading
W.D.La.: If the stop is too long for Rodriguez the defense should at least show it
If the stop is too long for Rodriguez, the defense should at least attempt to show it. “Because there is nothing set forth in the facts alleged by both parties that shows Carter’s detention was lengthy or extended beyond the … Continue reading
D.D.C.: JPMorgan complying with SDT to 1/6 committee not a 4A search
A third-party record keeper providing material to the January 6th Select Committee under subpoena is not a Fourth Amendment violation. “Here, under any of the above standards, it is plain that JPMorgan did not engage in state action when it … Continue reading
CA7: Bail hearing doesn’t have to be in 48 hours if a PC determination was
There is no hard rule that a bail hearing has to happen within 48 hours of arrest. PC finding, yes; bail, no. “[P]recedent dictates that only a probable-cause determination must be held within forty-eight hours. The constitutionally required timing of … Continue reading
MD: Smell of marijuana from a group of juveniles was RS for patdown but not PC
Even with marijuana being partly legal, possession of more than 10 grams was a crime. The smell of marijuana from a group permitted a frisk, and a gun was found on one. “Although that odor, without more, does not provide … Continue reading
GA: Trial questions about SW affidavit properly excluded where officer didn’t prepare affidavit
Trial questions to one officer about alleged false statements in a search warrant affidavit attributed to him but where it was not written by him were excluded. This was not an abuse of discretion since he wasn’t the affiant. Harris … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Trash pull corroborated CI
Here a trash pull corroborated the CI. United States v. Ledee, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109859 (M.D. Pa. June 21, 2022). Defendant’s traffic stop for crossing the fog line was supported by the dashcam video. United States v. Webb, 2022 … Continue reading
IL: Requirement of some testing of fire sprinkler system doesn’t require a search
A condominium association installed a newer fire protection system, and it was subject to annual testing. The ordinance only required it be tested by somebody, and who would likely be a contractor. It did not compel a search under the … Continue reading