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- Cal.2: CA OSHA had the authority to subpoena records over a workplace death, but this one was overbroad
- CA6: ChatGPT’s opinion that evidence was “newly discovered” for a successor habeas is wrong
- N.D.Cal.: Tribe’s suit over overbroad SW can proceed
- DE: Warrantless entry in DUI case unreasonable
- E.D.Ark.: Ptf stated claim for SW entry without proper announcement
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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. 
Author Archives: Hall
NC: Dog sniff of package in mail stream reasonable
A dog sniff of a package in the mail stream is reasonable. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy from a dog sniff there. State v. Teague, 2022-NCCOA-600, 2022 N.C. App. LEXIS 748 (Nov. 1, 2022). Defendants’ motion in limine … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Attenuation doctrine can apply to a Rodriguez violation
The attenuation doctrine can apply to a Rodriguez violation. United States v. Wright, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 203269 (E.D. Mo. Nov. 8, 2022). On the surface, there was no reasonable suspicion for extending this stop. The court sets a hearing. … Continue reading
CA6: Officer’s mistake he’d worked with CI before not shown to be Franks violation
Officer’s mistake in saying he’d worked with CI before that proved false still wasn’t enough to show a Franks violation because it could just be an innocent mistake and not enough to undermine the probable cause. United States v. Duncan, … Continue reading
CA10: Not unreasonable for state court to not apply exclusionary rule in sentencing
Under the unreasonable application standard of 2254, the Utah court did not unreasonably conclude the exclusionary rule would not be applied in the sentencing phase of a criminal trial. Menzies v. Powell, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 30789 (10th Cir. Nov. … Continue reading
Reason: Houston Prosecutors Are Keeping Cash Seized From Defendants Whose Cases Were Compromised by Police Corruption
Reason: Houston Prosecutors Are Keeping Cash Seized From Defendants Whose Cases Were Compromised by Police Corruption by Jacob Sullum (“Even in cases that hinged on the trustworthiness of demonstrably untrustworthy cops, people are still waiting to get their money back.”)
E.D.N.Y.: NYPD’s I-Card system when based on PC satisfies collective knowledge
NYPD issues what it calls an “I-Card” (“Activate Investigation Card”) which is supposed to be based on probable cause to believe a person committed a felony. With probable cause, the I-Card provides collective knowledge for an arrest. United States v. … Continue reading
D.D.C.: When stop was extended without RS, def’s assault on officers was not attenuated under Brown
The court finds the stop without reasonable suspicion. It was allegedly justified by paper LPN that didn’t match the car as without reasonable suspicion because the tags weren’t run until after the stop. That and other factors don’t make reasonable … Continue reading
CA6: City’s order closing hotel ptfs lived in didn’t violate 4A
Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment rights weren’t violated by the city’s order closing the motel they lived in because it was uninhabitable. There was a limited time they were without their personal property, but they were shortly allowed access to retrieve things. … Continue reading
OH1: No exclusionary rule for this alleged statutory violation for lack of notice of a probation search condition
Defendant’s contention the probation department failed to notify him of his search condition was a statutory violation but there is no exclusionary remedy for that. State v. Hayden, 2022-Ohio-3933, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 3721 (1st Dist. Nov. 4, 2022). In … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Def did not abandon backpack by hiding it nearby in bushes; he retained control
Defendant was at a McDonald’s with friends outside a car. When he saw the police, he put his backpack in the bushes to hide it while remaining nearby. He also went back to it to push it deeper into the … Continue reading
D.Md.: Body armor found during vehicle search in drug case not more prejudicial than relevant
Body armor found during a vehicle search under a warrant is not excluded as more prejudicial than relevant under F.R.E. 403. This is a drug case, and it’s no more prejudicial than the drugs and firearms that presumably will be … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Guns found during drug seizable as instrumentality of crime
In a drug search warrant, firearms found during the search are seizable as an instrumentality of a drug crime. United States v. Wilkins, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200342 (E.D. Ky. Oct. 19, 2022). Defendant’s running from his car during a … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Officers don’t have to say they have PC before an automobile exception search
The officers didn’t say they had probable cause at the beginning of the search of the vehicle, but on the totality they did. United States v. Wesley, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200320 (N.D. Tex. Nov. 3, 2022).* The Fourth Amendment … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Court won’t enjoin investigation after SW on ptf’s cell phone
Plaintiff can’t get access to search warrant papers yet because of an ongoing investigation. Second, the court won’t enjoin the use of the information from his seized telephone or order its return because of the ongoing investigation. Lindell v. United … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Govt failed in its burden of proof on justification for protective sweep
The court finds, with the evidence in equipoise, the government didn’t meet its burden of showing the arrest happened inside defendant’s house or outside. This is critical, because the police did a protective sweep and used that to get a … Continue reading
D.Me.: DEA could subpoena records investigating robbery of a marijuana dispensary
The DEA’s administrative subpoenas over records of the suspect over the alleged robbery of a marijuana dispensary were lawful exercises of power. Carpenter does not apply to mere phone records. United States v. Candelario, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 199195 (D. … Continue reading
The Recorder: Court Can’t Grant Request to Return John Eastman’s Emails, Jan. 6 Committee Says
The Recorder: Court Can’t Grant Request to Return John Eastman’s Emails, Jan. 6 Committee Says (“The committee said constitutional provisions, and Eastman’s own late filing, should end his appeal.”)
ID: Not telling arrestee reason for arrest in violation of statute not a 4A violation
Failure to notify an arrestee of the reason for his arrest in violation of the statute does not make the arrest violate the Fourth Amendment or state constitution. State v. Lancaster, 2022 Ida. LEXIS 133 (Nov. 1, 2022). There were … Continue reading