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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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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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: January 2026
E.D.Mo.: Listing in inventory only things of some value didn’t make it unreasonable
The officer’s inventory policy was to inventory before towing and then list only that which has value. Things of little value were omitted. Still, his body cam caught it all, so there is a record. This inventory was valid. United … Continue reading
NYT: ICE Expands Power of Agents to Arrest People Without Warrants
NYT: ICE Expands Power of Agents to Arrest People Without Warrants by Hamed Aleaziz & Charlie Savage (“An internal memo changed the standard from whether people are unlikely to show up for hearings to whether they could leave the scene.”) … Continue reading
Atlanta Black Star: ‘Make That Make Sense’: Family of Black Girl Frisked, Cuffed and Detained By Michigan Cops Pursuing a 40-Year-Old White Suspect Settles Lawsuit
Atlanta Black Star: ‘Make That Make Sense’: Family of Black Girl Frisked, Cuffed and Detained By Michigan Cops Pursuing a 40-Year-Old White Suspect Settles Lawsuit by Jill Jordan Sieder (“The family of a Black girl who at age 11 was … Continue reading
Cal.: Loose MJ on a car floorboard is not a violation of the MJ “open container” provision
“Enacted as part of California’s legalization of marijuana, Health and Safety Code section 11362.3, subdivision (a)(4) makes it an infraction to have an ‘open container’ of marijuana in a vehicle. The question before us is whether a small amount of … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: No REP in one’s own property in a stolen car
Defendant was in a stolen car, so no standing at all under Byrd. (The convoluted issue of search incident after Gant with Fourth Circuit authority never revisited is avoided for now.) United States v. Tyson, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15809 … Continue reading
ID: Finding drugs in 43% of dog alerts doesn’t mean dog unreliable or no PC
This drug dog only found drugs in 43% of alerts. That’s still enough for probable cause. Dogs can alert where drugs have been. Lack of success doesn’t mean false hits. State v. Barritt, 2026 Ida. LEXIS 16 (Jan. 29, 2026). … Continue reading
WA: No REP in ALPR so no prejudice from destruction of data
Defendant moved to suppress based on ALPR tracking. The data was gone. He moved to dismiss for destroying it, which was granted. Since it’s not a violation of his reasonable expectation of privacy, he can’t be prejudiced by it. Reversed. … Continue reading
Orin S. Kerr, The Moving Property Problem in Fourth Amendment Law
Orin S. Kerr, The Moving Property Problem in Fourth Amendment Law, Va. L. Rev. (forthcoming). Abstract:
TX13: No REP in ALPR information
ALPR readings cannot be compared to CSLI, and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in those movements on the streets. Ford v. State, 2026 Tex. App. LEXIS 729 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi – Edinburg Jan. 29, 2026). The … Continue reading
OR: Being ordered to walk backwards toward officer with hands up is a seizure
The juvenile being ordered to walk backwards to the officer with hands up is a seizure, and here it was with reasonable suspicion. P.L. v. C.P.L. (In re C.), 346 Or. App. 499 (Jan. 22, 2026) (argued 18 months ago). … Continue reading
AR: Asking for SW before opening the door is not obstructing governmental operations
Asking for a search warrant before opening the door is not obstructing governmental operations. The motion for directed verdict should have been granted. This is not active resistance. Keeton v. State, 2026 Ark. App. 53 (Jan. 28, 2026). The Heck … Continue reading
LAT: LAPD would delete nearly 12 million body camera videos under proposed policy change
LAT: LAPD would delete nearly 12 million body camera videos under proposed policy change by Libor Jany (“The Los Angeles Police Department is seeking a policy change that would allow millions of videos collected from officers’ body-worn and dashboard-mounted cameras … Continue reading
The page on “all SCOTUS cases and links” is restored
Thanks to the Wayback Machine and a little patience. You’ll notice that the Wayback Machine also provides the older links.
D.N.M.: Impoundment of backpack not shown proper under police procedures
The impoundment of defendant’s car and his backpack from an apartment complex parking lot was not shown to be within the standardized procedures of the department. That’s the government’s burden. Motion to suppress granted. United States v. Majedi, 2026 U.S. … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: No showing of nexus to cell phones in pharmacy fraud
In a pharmacy fraud case, there was no showing of nexus to pharmacists’ cell phones. Motion to suppress cell phones is granted. Also, under Franks, with an omission a higher standard of intent to mislead applies. Also, the affidavit is … Continue reading
CNS: Maryland man argues arrest using cellphone tracking device violates the Fourth Amendment
CNS: Maryland man argues arrest using cellphone tracking device violates the Fourth Amendment by Sydney Haulenbeek (“His attorney argued the police ‘basically seized’ his phone with the equipment police used to locate him. [¶] “A Maryland man arrested after police … Continue reading
WaPo: Families of men killed in boat strikes sue Trump administration
WaPo: Families of men killed in boat strikes sue Trump administration by Mariana Alfaro & Dan Lamothe (“The families of two Trinidadian men killed in October during a U.S. strike on boats off the coast of Venezuela filed a wrongful-death … Continue reading
VA: Exclusionary rule does not apply in animal cruelty forfeitures
The exclusionary rule does not apply in animal cruelty forfeitures, distinguishing One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania. Mogensen v. Cty. of Rockbridge, 2026 Va. App. LEXIS 46 (Jan. 27, 2026). Defendant’s stop for a broken taillight lacked reasonable suspicion because … Continue reading