Archives
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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)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"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
POGO: Federal Acquisition of Commercially Available Information
Project on Government Oversight: Federal Acquisition of Commercially Available Information by Don Bell (pdf)
CA6: Pending state court action was place to bring 4A claim under Younger
A state court action was going on involving plaintiff and his wetlands in Michigan, and he was enjoined from certain things. After state inspectors took soil and water samples, he sued in federal court. Younger abstention applies, and the state … Continue reading
Today is Bill of Rights Day
Fourth Amendment, established December 15, 1791.
E.D.Mo.: It was settled over 50 years ago that an officer could surreptitiously record a face-to-face conversation
“Bolden’s entire focus is on recordings between himself and an undercover federal agent who was outfitted with a covert recording device. The government is correct-Bolden’s argument is foreclosed by long-standing caselaw.” As in 1971. United States v. Bolden, 2024 U.S. … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Successor habeas petition can’t be based on withheld information of a 4A violation
A successor habeas can’t be based on allegedly withheld evidence of a Fourth Amendment violation. Sanchez v. Cates, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 226067 (E.D. Cal. Dec. 12, 2024). Defendant can’t show that defense counsel was ineffective for not moving to … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Def showed enough for a Franks violation with reckless false material fact
A misstated fact in the search warrant affidavit was material to probable cause because there was so much other stuff. United States v. Ibanez-Molina, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 225948 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 25, 2024)*:
OH8: Failure to attempt to distinguish contrary settled cases is waiver of argument
“In similar situations to the second transaction, federal courts have upheld the validity of the warrant to search a drug dealer’s premises based on the ‘common sense’ inference that drugs would be found in the home, essentially finding that evidence … Continue reading
NYTimes: Mount Vernon Police’s Strip Searches Were Unconstitutional, U.S. Says
NYTimes: Mount Vernon Police’s Strip Searches Were Unconstitutional, U.S. Says by Alyce McFadden (”A report by federal prosecutors found that a Westchester County police department violated the Fourth Amendment ‘on an enormous scale.’ [¶] Two women, 65 and 75 years … Continue reading
Reason: Kindle Version of “The Digital Fourth Amendment” Is Now Available
Reason: Kindle Version of “The Digital Fourth Amendment” Is Now Available by Orin S. Kerr (“You have to wait until January for the physical book, but you can read the electronic version now. … I’m very pleased to say that … Continue reading
NY3: “Common sense” that a drug dealer might have evidence on his cell phone isn’t PC
Just because defendant was a suspected drug dealer, there wasn’t probable cause for searching his cell phone. “While [officer] Bruno recounted that there was a quantity of drugs found in the motel room, along with the two phones, he did … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Dog sniff at door of commercial rented storage unit violated no REP
A dog sniff at the door to a rented commercial storage unit violated no reasonable expectation of privacy. United States v. Harris, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 224506 (W.D. La. Nov. 4, 2024). There’s no reasonable expectation of privacy in one’s … Continue reading
AR: LA judge could issue SW for LA medical records for AR crime
After an accident in South Arkansas, defendant was airlifted to a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana. A search warrant in Louisiana was issued for his medical records. There was no requirement that an Arkansas judge issue a warrant first, just so … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: No stay of execution of a computer and cell phone SW after def was indicted
Defendant was arrested in Malaysia and a computer and cell phones were seized. He was then indicted in NYC. The nine-day delay in getting a warrant was not unreasonable considering defendant was in custody and unable to use them. A … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Cover story at time of justified stop didn’t make it unreasonable
Months of electronic surveillance gave probable cause for defendant’s stop and search. Police use of a cover story for the stop was reasonable to prevent other co-conspirators from finding out. United States v. Arrington, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 222969 (E.D. … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Copying electronic device for delayed search is not per se unreasonable
In an electronic search, the government copied the device’s memory for later search, and the probable cause did not get stale during the delay. Because of the capacity of electronic devices, this is the most efficient manner of searching. United … Continue reading
CA8: Takedown was lawful, assault thereafter wasn’t
Plaintiff’s takedown was lawful, but not the assault after he was down. “It is even more clearly established now. A suspect’s ‘right[] to be free from excessive force [is] violated if officers choke, kick, or punch [him] when [he is] … Continue reading
CA6: Arrest based on unreliable eyewitness violates clearly established law
“Our precedent holds that it was clearly established that an officer may not arrest an individual based solely on an eyewitness account that is untruthful or unreliable. That is exactly what happened here when Officer Wieber learned that the prior … Continue reading
404 Media: Location Data Firm Offers to Help Cops Track Targets via Doctor Visits
404 Media: Location Data Firm Offers to Help Cops Track Targets via Doctor Visits by Joseph Cox (“A location data company is asking police for the address of specific people’s doctors in case that can be useful in finding their … Continue reading
Drug dog nose into a car window
“The drug dog’s fleeting touch of the passenger door and de minimus intrusion into the vehicle cabin through a window left open by a passenger does not justify the exclusion of evidence under the Supreme Court’s Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.” It … Continue reading
PA: State failed in its burden of proof on inventory policy
The state failed to put on proof of the impoundment and inventory policy, so the trial court erred in finding it was reasonable. Commonwealth v. Brinson, 2024 PA Super 293, 2024 Pa. Super. LEXIS 536 (Dec. 9, 2024). Defendant’s car … Continue reading