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Recent Posts
- IL: A backpack is not as personal a repository of stuff as a purse or wallet; officers ordered it left in vehicle for safety reasons and it was inventoried
- DE: Cell phone SW was limited by time and data sought, so it was not a general warrant
- MD: Under Bruen, mere possession of a handgun outside the home is no longer RS; Terry stop doesn’t include looking in a bag
- MO: When officers came with an arrest warrant, def’s admission he had a firearm justified the entry
- PA: Shining flashlight into hole in a shoebox was a search; there was a REP in the closed box
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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)
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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. 
Author Archives: Hall
IL: A backpack is not as personal a repository of stuff as a purse or wallet; officers ordered it left in vehicle for safety reasons and it was inventoried
Defendant’s backpack is not as much a personal repository as a wallet or purse. When officers ordered the occupants out of the car, the backpack was at defendant’s feet, and he was ordered to leave it behind. The inventory was … Continue reading
DE: Cell phone SW was limited by time and data sought, so it was not a general warrant
The warrant for defendant’s cell phone was not for “any and all data,” and it was limited to a specific time frame, July 20, 2020 to November 30, 2021. Officers found a video of defendant having sex with a minor. … Continue reading
MD: Under Bruen, mere possession of a handgun outside the home is no longer RS; Terry stop doesn’t include looking in a bag
Bruen changed the law, and possession of a firearm outside the home is no longer reasonable suspicion for an investigative stop. Also, a Terry stop is a patdown of clothing, not looking into a bag being carried. Hicks v. State, … Continue reading
MO: When officers came with an arrest warrant, def’s admission he had a firearm justified the entry
Officers came to defendant’s house with an arrest warrant. When they entered they asked him about any weapons in the house before a protective sweep. He directed them to a gun in the bedroom. That was all reasonable and inevitable … Continue reading
PA: Shining flashlight into hole in a shoebox was a search; there was a REP in the closed box
An officer responded to an overdose call to back up EMS. While in defendant’s house, he shined his flashlight through a manufacturer’s hole in a shoebox to look inside. This was an unreasonable search because defendant had a reasonable expectation … Continue reading
CA5: Accidentally shooting the man who disarmed the shooter from a residence was not a constitutional violation
“This is a tragic case of mistaken identity. A police officer believed he was targeting a gunman who had been firing on police from a residence. Instead, he shot and badly wounded a man who had disarmed the actual shooter … Continue reading
CA9: False evidence to arrest violates due process
Arrest on false evidence in a malicious prosecution case was based on a due process violation that undermined probable cause to arrest: Ciria v. Gerrans, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 16318 (9th Cir. June 5, 2026):
CA6: The SW affidavit here was thin, but it wasn’t completely bare bones, so GFE applies
After controlled buys from defendant’s house, two separate police departments prepared search warrants for his place, and they were presented together. One was signed. Defendant moved to suppress contending there was no probable cause and it was so lacking that … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Extending stop to run ALPR information on car was with RS
Here, the officer in a traffic stop wanted to run defendant’s LPN through ALPRs to determine whether the travel was as stated. There was reasonable suspicion to continue the stop 15 minutes for that. United States v. Moore, 2026 U.S. … Continue reading
CA3: Ptf was arrested on an apparent but recalled warrant, then officers confirmed it and let him go; the arrest was reasonable
Plaintiff was arrested because the officers reasonably believed there was a warrant for his arrest. “When Vince provided documentation that the warrant had been lifted, the officers confirmed the information and released him, which was reasonable under the circumstances. Therefore, … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Failure to serve state SW within state mandated time not 4A violation
The state search warrant in this case was not served within three days as required by Ohio law. That did not violate the Fourth Amendment, and he shows no prejudice. United States v. Calhoun, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121202 (N.D. … Continue reading
NY1: Gunshot through floor from apartment above was exigency
Exigency justified entry into defendant’s apartment. The tenant below called 911 to report a shooting down through his ceiling and gunshots above. People v. Santiago, 2026 NY Slip Op 03398 (1st Dept. June 2, 2026). “Ms. Sandoval next asserts that … Continue reading
Reason: Most Civil Forfeiture Victims Never See the Inside of a Courtroom
Reason: Most Civil Forfeiture Victims Never See the Inside of a Courtroom by J.D. Tuccille (“Modest reforms have helped, but civil forfeiture remains legalized theft by government agencies.” “Two years ago, the Netflix film Rebel Ridge turned a common law … Continue reading
CO: Anonymous report of student smoking pot in school justified backpack search
An anonymous report to a school official the juvenile was smoking pot in class justified a search of his backpack under T.L.O. Suppression order reversed. People in interest of T.J.W., 2026 CO 38 (June 1, 2026). Defendant’s parole search was … Continue reading
CA6: CI’s lie to get into def’s house to video him making a drug deal with the CI didn’t violate 4A
The informant’s lie to get into defendant’s house to video him making a drug deal with the CI didn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. See Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206, 210 (1966). United States v. Warick, 2026 U.S. App. … Continue reading
TN: Def lived in a van left wide open in a public area, but it didn’t belong to him, so no REP as to interior
“In this case, the evidence was that, although the Defendant lived in the van, the van was registered to someone else, and the vehicle registration indicated the same. The doors to the van were wide open and it was parked … Continue reading
VI: Despite ubiquity of cell phones, nexus has to be shown to alleged crime
The suppression of the cell phone is affirmed. The telephonic warrant omitted to mention what it was that the police were seizing. The ubiquity of cell phones isn’t carte blanche to seize any cell phone in a defendant’s possession. There … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: PIT maneuver here was not excessive force
A PIT maneuver here was not excessive force. Defendant repeatedly refused to stop and even after attempted PIT maneuvers kept fleeing. United States v. Damons, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118141 (N.D. Ga. Apr. 2, 2026):
LA4: Acting like carrying a gun and wearing a ski mask in New Orleans in June was RS
The juvenile here acted like he was carrying a weapon and he had on a ski mask in June in New Orleans. That was reasonable suspicion. State In the Int. of L.V., 2026 La. App. LEXIS 1070 (La. App. 4 … Continue reading