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- IN: Overdose call led to EMS telling police what they saw and that led to SW
- NY1: A mental health defense waives REP in the medical records about it
- MA: When a likely Franks violation comes out at trial, def gets to reopen the suppression issue
- RI: Challenge to one sentence of 8-page cell phone records SW fails; totality has to be considered
- WaPo: Subpoena bill would curtail secretive tool used to target government critics
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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. 
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Yes, I know this blog is behind
I have a three week trial in early March. I’m doing what I can, but 40-50 cases a day come from Lexis.
17th anniversary of this blog; 259th anniversary of Otis’ argument in Paxton’s Case
Today is the 17th anniversary of this blog. Today is also the 259th anniversary of James Otis’ 1761 argument at the Boston Old State House against the writs of assistance in Paxton’s Case. Transcripts of the argument are here. (It … Continue reading
WaPo: Opinion: State-federal task forces are out of control
WaPo: Opinion: State-federal task forces are out of control by Radley Balko (“Specialized police forces are often self-funded, report to no one, and can duck lawsuits by playing games with state-federal jurisdiction.”)
CA5: 4A claim first raised in reply brief on appeal is waived
“Cordova has forfeited his stand-alone Fourth Amendment claim by raising it for the first time in his reply brief.” And it would have to be reviewed for plain error, which it’s not. United States v. Cordova, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
The State: Stop and frisk: SC Supreme Court splits on racial lines in case about cops and race
The State: Stop and frisk: SC Supreme Court splits on racial lines in case about cops and race by John Monk (“The S.C. Supreme Court split on racial lines this week in a 3-2 decision involving whether Columbia area police … Continue reading
CA6: Def’s volunteering to officer “he was working with a DEA agent but because his status was classified” contributed to RS
“But even assuming the officers had exceeded the time needed to handle the traffic stop, Officer Ullrich had reasonable suspicion to use the drug dog. As Officer Ullrich approached Jackson’s car after making the traffic stop, Jackson made numerous unprompted … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Exercising control over cell phone to shield it from being seen by police was showing a subjective REP, right up until def denied it was his
Defendant first sought to shield the cell phone in his hand from view. When the police finally got it from him, he denied it was his. “Through his conduct at the time of the seizure, Mayer arguably exhibited a subjective … Continue reading
CA11: 4A claims not cognizable for successor habeas
Petitioner’s Fourth Amendment claims can’t be the basis for a successor habeas because none of the statutory grounds are available here. In re Hammond, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 3419 (11th Cir. Feb. 4, 2020):
WGN: Florida troopers find narcotics in bag labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs’
WGN: Florida troopers find narcotics in bag labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs’ (“The Florida Highway Patrol arrested two men suspected of drug trafficking after troopers pulled them over and found drugs in a bag labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs.’ The … Continue reading
MinnPost: Minnesota Legislature begins considering facial-recognition technology regulations
MinnPost: Minnesota Legislature begins considering facial-recognition technology regulations by Peter Callaghan (“A joint legislative committee has taken the first small steps toward considering what a handful of cities and states around the country have already done — regulating or banning … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Three SWs not part of case were not subject to judicial notice
In a civil case, the court refuses to take judicial notice of the facts alleged in three search warrants that are not part of the case. Aubrey v. D Magazine Partners, L.P., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12304 (N.D. Tex. Jan. … Continue reading
Iowa’s cases from Thursday
There was probable cause based on the dashcam video for defendant’s stop for not having two functioning headlights. “Here, what the video evidence shows is unquestionably open to interpretation as to whether the headlight was inoperable or just dim. Whatever … Continue reading
AL: Statutory violation in arrest wasn’t a 4A violation; arrest not suppressed (on rehearing)
Reversing itself on rehearing (prior opinion Berry v. State, 2019 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 64 (Sept. 20, 2019)), the court concludes that a potential statutory violation was not a Fourth Amendment violation. The officer knew of warrants for defendant’s arrest … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Def in MCC now prosecuted for leaking classified SW information via contraband cell phone
Defendant is being prosecuted in part for leaking protected search warrant and classified search warrant materials to the press from contraband cell phones in the MCC, Manhattan. This opinion is about disclosure of defenses and evidence. United States v. Schulte, … Continue reading
NY Times: He Says He Stabbed a Student to Defend His Home. His Home Is a Box.
NY Times: He Says He Stabbed a Student to Defend His Home. His Home Is a Box. By Nikita Stewart and Jan Ransom (“A homeless man is fighting his case by invoking New York’s “castle doctrine,” which gives people the … Continue reading
WaPo: Colorado just used its gun seizure law for the first time — one day after it took effect
WaPo: Colorado just used its gun seizure law for the first time — one day after it took effect by Derek Hawkins
N.D.Ohio: 2255 including a 4A IAC claim denied for lack of any statement of facts of what’s at issue
Defendant filed a “laundry list” 2255. His Franks IAC claim is rejected for lack of any offer of proof that it would remotely be granted. Johnson v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 216544 (N.D. Ohio Dec. 17, 2019).* The … Continue reading
Getting caught up
Had two day jury trial this week which took several days of preparation as well. But, the next 12 days will be slow for work and the cases coming in, as always, so I’ll get caught up presumably by 12/25
NYTimes: The Chilling Reality of Bias at the F.B.I.
NYTimes: The Chilling Reality of Bias at the F.B.I. by Julian Sanchez (“Americans deserve a stronger assurance than “hope” that their Fourth Amendment rights are being respected.”)
D.D.C.: Gen. Flynn’s guilty plea waived his speculative 4A/Brady claim; even if not waived, what he speculates wasn’t material
General Flynn’s 2017 guilty plea waived his claim that there was allegedly Brady material that was favorable to his case that he was set up by the FBI. First of all, the guilty plea waives the Fourth Amendment claim, Brady … Continue reading