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- Cal.2: Officers didn’t need to periodically reassess exigency
- DE: Second warrant after first general warrant was independent source for search
- CT: Exclusionary rule does not apply in animal welfare cases which are civil
- CA4: Surveillance video of def carrying suitcase showed his standing in it
- ID: AW for suspected passenger allowed police to enter curtilage to look in parked car at night
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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)
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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) -
“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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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. 
Category Archives: Uncategorized
IL: Searching wallet in Terry frisk for weapons was unreasonable
Even assuming the frisk was for weapons, as the officer stated on the bodycam video, the search of defendant’s wallet exceeded the scope of a Terry frisk. People v. Molitor, 2026 IL App (2d) 240644, 2026 Ill. App. LEXIS 65 … Continue reading
E.D.Mo. sustains geofence warrant
Noting Chatrie is pending and that the Eighth Circuit hasn’t ruled, but has in something close, the court denies suppression of a geofence warrant. United States v. Washington, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37462 (E.D. Mo. Feb. 4, 2026)*:
Sixth edition 15% off today
Here.
W.D.Pa.: No jurisdiction for class claim against TSA seizures of cash
Plaintiffs are attempting a class action against the TSA for seizing cash from them at screening points. This case is against an administrative regulation, and the district court lacked jurisdiction. Brown v. Transp. Sec. Admin., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28282 … Continue reading
D.Minn.: No continuing preservation order for state BCA v. federal investigators in Pretti killing
The State of Minnesota obtained a search warrant for DHS investigative materials, which was ignored, and then sued DHS over its investigation into the Alex Pretti killing. The District of Minnesota still applies the presumption of regularity and declines to … Continue reading
Orin S. Kerr, The Moving Property Problem in Fourth Amendment Law
Orin S. Kerr, The Moving Property Problem in Fourth Amendment Law, Va. L. Rev. (forthcoming). Abstract:
The page on “all SCOTUS cases and links” is restored
Thanks to the Wayback Machine and a little patience. You’ll notice that the Wayback Machine also provides the older links.
WaPo: How officers used new ICE memo to forcefully enter a Minneapolis home
WaPo: How officers used new ICE memo to forcefully enter a Minneapolis home by Arelis R. Hernández (“With long guns pointed in her direction, Teyana Gibson repeatedly demanded that federal immigration officers show her a warrant as she stood between … Continue reading
WaPo: U.S. capture of Maduro may be illegal; that likely won’t matter in court
WaPo: U.S. capture of Maduro may be illegal; that likely won’t matter in court by Perry Steinand Shayna Jacobs:
The Sixth Edition is 15% off today
Search and Seizure a $100 savings
D.Md.: Photos taken during search come in at trial
Photos taken during execution of a search warrant are coming in at trial. “Photos of the location where the items were recovered supports the allegation by placing the search warrant in context.” United States v. Jenifer, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
The Sixth Edition is now on Lexis
Books to ship soon, if not already. I just noticed today.
Reason: Governments Are Pushing Digital IDs. Are You Ready To Be Tracked?
Reason: Governments Are Pushing Digital IDs. Are You Ready To Be Tracked? by John Stossell (“Politicians push government IDs. In a TSA announcement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem sternly warns, ‘You will need a REAL ID to travel by … Continue reading
Today is Bill of Rights Day
The Fourth Amendment and nine others were adopted December 15, 1791, two years after the Constitution.
Cybersecurity Law Report: Gen AI Chats Becoming Evidence: Law Enforcement Warrants and Subpoenas
Cybersecurity Law Report: Gen AI Chats Becoming Evidence: Law Enforcement Warrants and Subpoenas (“Users should exercise caution before prompting ChatGPT or Claude. As three 2025 cases demonstrate, generative AI (Gen AI) chats are being used as evidence in criminal prosecutions, … Continue reading
The Sixth Edition is shown as available for preorder, ships about 12/31/25
https://store.lexisnexis.com/en-us/products/search-and-seizure-grpussku7003.html
NACDL: Search & Seizure Encyclopedia: A Guide for the 4th Amendment
NACDL: Search & Seizure Encyclopedia: A Guide for the 4th Amendment. View Sample Table of Contents & Sample Pages.
WaPo: Justice Department struggles as thousands exit — and few are replaced
WaPo: Justice Department struggles as thousands exit — and few are replaced by Perry Stein (“The Justice Department has lost thousands of experienced attorneys and backfilled a fraction of the open jobs, in part because of a lack of qualified … Continue reading