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- CA6: ChatGPT’s opinion that evidence was “newly discovered” for a successor habeas is wrong
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- E.D.Ark.: Ptf stated claim for SW entry without proper announcement
- E.D.Ky.: Being a lookout vehicle at a crime is RS
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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)
--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. 
Author Archives: Hall
NJ: SDT for S&W records on use of its products in NJ was enforced; 1A and other claims preserved
Subpoenas for documents under the state Consumer Fraud Act about the ability of average consumers to use plaintiff’s firearms for personal or home defense were enforceable under the Fourth Amendment. Plaintiff’s claims under other amendments are preserved for later. Platkin … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: Tasering a suspect before search of the person didn’t taint the search
Tasering a suspect before a search of the person doesn’t taint the search. They were unconnected. United States v. Turner, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12453 (W.D. Tex. Jan. 25, 2023).* Defendant in his 2255 doesn’t show ineffective assistance of counsel … Continue reading
CA8: Post-trial assertion of 4A issue was waived
Defendant’s post-trial claim that the tracking warrant used to find him expired three weeks before the arrest was waived by not having been filed pretrial. Even if plain error is applied, “we agree with the district court there was no … Continue reading
UNC: The Law and Practice of No-Knock Search Warrants in North Carolina
UNC School of Government: The Law and Practice of No-Knock Search Warrants in North Carolina by Jeffrey B. Welty:
NBC: Men imprisoned for murder say police illegally used Google to find their location data
NBC: Men imprisoned for murder say police illegally used Google to find their location data by Jon Schuppe (“Geofence warrants allow police to comb through Google location data in search of suspects. Opponents say that violates the Constitution.”)
E.D.N.Y.: Village’s Scofflaw law permitting seizure of vehicles for nonpayment of parking tickets violates lessor owner’s 4A rights in vehicle
The plaintiff Toyota Lease Trust owns vehicles it leases to individuals. One of plaintiff’s lessees ran up $1000 in unpaid parking tickets and the Village of Freeport seized the vehicle under its Scofflaw law. The seizure violated the owner’s Fourth … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Civilly committed for NGBRI verdicts have no 4A rights in their cells
The civilly committed for NGBRI verdicts have no Fourth Amendment against cell searches. Lopez v. CEO of Ancora Psychiatric Hosp., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12248 (D.N.J. Jan. 24, 2023), citing Glazewski v. Barnett, 2022 WL 2046921, at *3-4 (D.N.J. June … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Geofence warrant for cell phones in Capitol building during 1/6 insurrection was valid and relied on in good faith
The D.C. District Court upheld a geofence warrant for cell phones located in the Capitol building during the 1/6 insurrection. Surveying all the cases, and there aren’t many, and noting that there is a margin of error as to accuracy … Continue reading
IL: Even with recreational MJ, smell in a car can provide PC; pre-rec precedent adhered to
Even with recreational marijuana, it has to be transported in odor proof containers, and that means the smell of marijuana remains probable cause in Illinois. People v. Hall, 2023 IL App (4th) 220209, 2023 Ill. App. LEXIS 12 (Jan. 25, … Continue reading
KY: 21-month delay for SW for cell phone not unreasonable where def in custody
Officers had probable cause and nexus and showed particularity to defendant’s cell phone. He’d previously been accused of recording undressed women and was involved in an upskirting. Here he’d been accused of sex with drugged women and recording some of … Continue reading
S.D.Miss.: Even suppressed drugs can be figured into drug weight for sentencing
Even if a motion to suppress had been pursued and defendant prevailed, suppressed drug weight can be used at sentencing. United States v. Coleman, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10826 (S.D. Miss. Jan. 23, 2023). Pro se plaintiffs fail to state … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Car transporter has common authority to consent
A car being hauled west was searched on the car hauler’s truck by consent of the hauler. He had common authority to do that. Moreover, defendant’s standing as to the vehicle was tenuous at best. Registration had expired before the … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Border search exception doesn’t permit cell phone search for proof of a prior domestic crime
The border search exception does not apply to searching defendant’s cell phone at Customs for proof of a domestic crime, here mail theft. United States v. Carpenter, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11014 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 23, 2023). The drug dog … Continue reading
M.D.Ga.: Officer isn’t obliged to mention he could smell marijuana coming from the car
An officer smelling marijuana in a car isn’t obliged to tell the motorist he could for it to be true. United States v. Perkins, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10564 (M.D. Ga. Jan. 19, 2023). At worst, the officer’s false statement … Continue reading
ND: Trial court’s finding of investigatory purpose for inventory search supported by record
The district court found that the purported inventory search was really for investigatory purposes, and the evidence supports that conclusion. The inevitable discovery exception also does not apply here. State v. Krall, 2023 ND 8, 2023 N.D. LEXIS 9 (Jan. … Continue reading
ABA: Katz or Dogs? Why the Katz Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Test Is More Applicable to Advancing Technology than a Test Applied to Dog Sniffs
Katz or Dogs? Why the Katz Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Test Is More Applicable to Advancing Technology than a Test Applied to Dog Sniffs by Blade M. Allen (ABA Criminal Justice Jan. 23, 2023). (And I’m tired of cutsy Katz … Continue reading
CT: Automobile exception still applied even though def was arrested 500′ from car
Defendant was arrested 500′ from his car. The car was still subject to the automobile exception because there was enough connection. He still had the keys on him. State v. Griffin, 2023 Conn. App. LEXIS 8 (Jan. 24, 2023):
E.D.Pa.: Failure to specify in 2255 how 4A was violated is waiver
In a 2255 ineffective assistance claim, “Defendant fails to specify either how his Fourth Amendment rights were violated or what evidence counsel should have sought to suppress.” That alone is enough to deny. It’s denied on the merits, too. United … Continue reading
CA3: Going from home to a drug deal is nexus to the home
“Contrary to Torres’ arguments, when an individual is suspected of dealing narcotics, probable cause to search his home does not demand a showing that he deals those narcotics at his home. The common-sense likelihood that drug dealers keep evidence of … Continue reading