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Recent Posts
- 404 Media: Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People
- Cal.1: Entry by robot, drone, tear gas, and flash bang was with PC after def refused to come out on a SW and AW
- 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.
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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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
NYT: Kansas Troopers ‘Waged War on Motorists,’ Federal Judge Finds
NYT: Kansas Troopers ‘Waged War on Motorists,’ Federal Judge Finds by Mitch Smith (“The judge said the Highway Patrol had made a habit of wrongly questioning out-of-state drivers in hopes of turning up drugs.”):
IN: 3 am entry into backyard to look for weapon when no one around couldn’t be justified by exigency
“There was no emergency here. Officer Eber and the trial court expressed concern that a firearm might have been lying in Hinton’s backyard and could be accessed by a child or other person. But, even if so, there was no … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Civilly committed have no REP in common computer files
The plaintiff is confined in the Texas Civil Commitment Center. He has no privacy interest in the files he’s saved on TCCC common computers for his cases. Rogers v. McLane, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125554 n. 11 (N.D. Tex. June … Continue reading
techdirt: Bill Limiting Data Broker Sales To Law Enforcement Moves Forward
techdirt: Bill Limiting Data Broker Sales To Law Enforcement Moves Forward by Tim Cushing (“The Supreme Court made it clear in 2018 with its Carpenter decision: gathering historical cell site location info in bulk was impermissible under the Fourth Amendment. … Continue reading
MI: Omission def was a CI was not material where SW was based on possession and sale of drugs
“Agent Merle’s failure to reveal that Brown was a CI for DTF was not a material omission. As discussed previously, the warrant affidavit was based on Brown’s possession and sale of illegal drugs, which did not fall within the scope … Continue reading
NY Cortlandt Co.: Requirement of business records searches to take low income housing vouchers violates 4A
Acceptance of section 8 low income housing vouchers violates the Fourth Amendment because the landlord has to permit searches of business records to participate. Rental property is not a closely regulated industry, and 1981’s Sokolov v. Freeport controls. “Thus, by … Continue reading
D.Md.: Surveillance and bodycam video supported officer’s contention def had a firearm in sweatshirt pocket
The court viewed the CCTV and body cam videos (included in the opinion) and it’s apparent defendant had a gun in his sweatshirt pocket. “Not every bulge is a weapon,” but this one apparently was. That justified the frisk. United … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Unsubstantiated rumor not RS
Defendant’s stop for being involved in a shooting which was based on nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor from an unsupported CI and the victim that he was involved was without reasonable suspicion. United States v. Cobbs, 2023 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Second thoughts about unobjected to Facebook posts in 1/6 trial doesn’t mean govt violated particularity
1/6 defendants didn’t object to Facebook materials obtained by search warrant. In their motion for new trial they’re concerned with one entry in 14,000 pages that the government must have exceeded the warrant. “Even if these underdeveloped allegations held water, … Continue reading
CA8: Discretion to have another retrieve vehicle doesn’t void inventory
“Even if we assume that Deputy Johnson had an investigatory motive, we still hold that the inventory search was reasonable. Indeed, after Deputy Johnson arrested Nielsen on an active felony-drug warrant, SCSD policy required Deputy Johnson to have Nielsen’s vehicle … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Photo of premises in SW showed detached garage, and it was included because on curtilage
The warrant was particular when it showed a picture of the premises with the address. The photograph showed the detached garage on the curtilage. That was covered by the warrant, too. When the government raised standing in response to defendant’s … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Briefly asking about “illegal narcotics” during a traffic stop not unreasonable because of fentanyl
Asking a stopped motorist about whether there were illegal drugs in the car was a question of officer safety because of fentanyl. “The questions here primarily involved the presence of weapons, although Officer Ragusa very briefly mentioned ‘illegal narcotics.’ The … Continue reading
Interesting Engineering: AI cameras are watching millions of cars in the US to nab criminals
Interesting Engineering: AI cameras are watching millions of cars in the US to nab criminals by Sejal Dharma (“A drug trafficker was arrested last year after an AI camera watched it move across states for two years.”)
techdirt: Top Court In Illinois Says Compelling Password Production Isn’t A 5A Violation
techdirt: Top Court In Illinois Says Compelling Password Production Isn’t A Fifth Amendment Violation by Tim Cushing. Case posted here.
CA5: No REP in a video recorded by another of def committing a crime
While one can have a reasonable expectation of privacy in something he doesn’t own (as in bailment or contract), here it was a video recorded by another of him possessing firearms. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Claim of exaggerated facts doesn’t state Franks violation without showing intent to mislead
Defendant’s claim that the officer exaggerated some facts in the affidavit for warrant didn’t state a Franks challenge without an allegation it was done to mislead. United States v. Delgado, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121793 (E.D.Mich. July 14, 2023). “The … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: SW for entire iCloud account limited by crime under investigation was particular
The fact the CI related information that was publicly known doesn’t support the story. “Although the Court concludes that the Apple/iCloud warrant was not supported by probable cause, the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies.” The case was a … Continue reading
KS: Typo in date of GPS warrant was “technical irregularity” that could be overlooked
A typo in the date on a GPS tracking warrant was a technical irregularity that did not substantively prejudice him. State v. Campbell, 2023 Kan. LEXIS 49 (July 14, 2023). The fact defendant’s statement to the police that formed the … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Police using an iPhone camera to see through a car’s window tinting did not violate any REP
Police using an Apple iPhone camera to see through a car’s window tinting did not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy. United States v. Poller, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121262 (D. Conn. July 14, 2023):