Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA8: Def’s connection to property searched was so tenuous he had no standing; no one claimed to know him
- D.Mass.: Inventory valid despite there being no impoundment policy
- CA6: The smell of burnt MJ in a car is still PC for driving under influence even where personal possession is legal.
- CA2: Failure to read a SW isn’t a 4A violation without overseizure
- NY3: Cannabis stores are closely regulated business
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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
D.Minn.: SW arguably included use of cell site simulator to track phone; GFE applied in any event
The state issued warrant here authorized the use of a cell site simulator, but this wasn’t explicitly stated in the affidavit for warrant. And, the affidavit wasn’t incorporated into the warrant either. This is a close question. The court comes … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def’s PC suppression argument showed a trial defense, not an argment for suppression
Defendant’s objection to the R&R isn’t enough to overrule the USMJ’s finding there was probable cause. Defendant presents a trial defense, not a defense to probable cause. United States v. Cole, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 752 (D. Minn. Jan. 3, … Continue reading
D.Neb.: A SW affidavit is evaluated for PC based on what it contains, not what it lacks
A search warrant affidavit is evaluated for probable cause based on what it contains, not what it lacks. United States v. Daigle, 947 F.3d 1076, 1081 (8th Cir. 2020). Moreover, the good faith exception applies. There was enough information to … Continue reading
CA10: City driveway shared with house next door not curtilage
A driveway shared with the house next door was not curtilage. A driveway in a city usually isn’t anyway. United States v. Vasquez, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 75 (10th Cir. Jan. 3, 2024). Defendant’s objection to the R&R that the … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Squatter in building labeled “unsafe” had no standing
Defendant was a squatter in a building with posted sign warning it was substandard and unsafe. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the premises. United States v. Guzman, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 550 (D.N.M. Jan. 2, 2024). Michael … Continue reading
GA: Probationer’s housemate didn’t object to probation search, so it was valid as to him, too
When you live with a probationer with a Fourth Amendment waiver, your stuff in the premises is likely subject to search, too. Here, it’s decided on defendant’s failure to object to his alleged implied consent [like he knew he could] … Continue reading
MS: One of two SWs for def’s business was accidentally destroyed but not in bad faith; officers getting second SW were justified
Here there were two search warrants: One for suite E and another for both suites D & E to be sure they were searching the right premises. Execution of the suite E warrant led officers to get another for both. … Continue reading
“We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government. The aggressive breaches of privacy by the Government increase by geometric proportions.”
Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 87 S.Ct. 429, 439, 17 L.Ed.2d 394) (1966) (Douglas dissenting), Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 408, 17 L.Ed.2d 374 (1966) (concurring in part with Clark), Lewis v. United States, … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Probation search can precede arrest
Defendant’s probation officer was not a “stalking horse” for the police in this probation search. They both had their reasons for the search. Following most of the circuits addressing the issue, the search can precede the arrest. United States v. … Continue reading
NYTimes: Your Car Is Tracking You. Abusive Partners May Be, Too.
NYTimes: Your Car Is Tracking You. Abusive Partners May Be, Too. by Kashmir Hill (”Apps that remotely track and control cars are being weaponized by abusive partners. Car manufacturers have been slow to respond, according to victims and experts.” If … Continue reading
WY: Def’s girlfriend showed apparent authority to enter their apartment after domestic dispute; Illinois v. Rodriguez redux
Officer’s reasonably relied on defendant’s girlfriend’s apparent authority to enter his apartment. She called 911 about what she described as a domestic assault where he struck her face. When police arrived, she was outside the apartment sitting on the stairs. … Continue reading
Two search incidents based on containers
The district court denied suppression of the search of defendant’s backpack on him at the time of his arrest based on a 1975 case, Eatherton, post-Chimel, Robinson, and Edwards. The court finds that case was not undermined by Chadwick and … Continue reading
techdirt: Every Major Pharmacy Chain Is Giving The Government Warrantless Access To Medical Records
techdirt: Every Major Pharmacy Chain Is Giving The Government Warrantless Access To Medical Records by Tim Cushing:
LA5: Omission wasn’t material for Franks and it was only negligent, if anything
“There is no evidence to demonstrate that any omission of Mr. Daleo’s prior statement in the probable cause affidavits was intentional. Further, we find the applications demonstrate that the attesting officers had reasonable grounds to believe that defendant’s residence and … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Typo in affidavit for SW doesn’t support Franks challenge
Defendant’s Franks challenge fails. “At the hearing, Hill presented nothing to establish that this inconsistency was anything other than a negligent typographical error. While he maintained that the affidavits were riddled with falsehoods, he was unable—despite repeated questioning—to pinpoint any … Continue reading
CA9: Defs had no standing in part of commercial premises searched of business they ran
Standing in commercial property, even run by defendants, is evaluated differently than in residential property, more on a case-by-case basis. Defendants make a Franks challenge to the warrant, but they fail on standing in this commercial space. United States v. … Continue reading