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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)
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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
Three on waiver
2255 petitioner’s claim that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated was waived by his unconditional plea. His claim defense counsel was ineffective was conclusory. On the merits, the search warrant was constitutionally particular. Buford v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Airbnb has REP in nonpublic usage data for its rentals
“The Court finds Airbnb has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the nonpublic usage data for its listings—especially when paired with additional information such as the location of the unit—and that the City cannot lawfully require disclosure of that information … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Lack of Miranda warning had no effect on search
Defendant’s Miranda rights were violated, but it had no effect on the search. United States v. McAdams, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71772 (S.D. Fla. Apr. 14, 2019).* Defendant wasn’t in custody at the time of his statement. Thomason v. State, … Continue reading
Detroit Free Press: Federal judge, civil rights icon Damon Keith dies at age 96
Detroit Free Press: Federal judge, civil rights icon Damon Keith dies at age 96 by Cassandra Spratling & David Ashenfelter Other story:
National Law Review: Sixth Circuit Amends “Chalking” Decision to Clarify Scope
National Law Review: Sixth Circuit Amends “Chalking” Decision to Clarify Scope
KS: When welfare check showed no issues, it was unreasonable to run def’s DL
Officers encountered defendant for a welfare check. When it was obvious he was not in need of any help, it was unreasonable to keep his DL and run it for warrants. Strieff does not apply. State v. Manwarren, 2019 Kan. … Continue reading
The Future of Privacy Law, Yale Law Journal (collection)
The Future of Privacy Law, Yale Law Journal, Vol. 128 (Apr. 1, 2019): Rapid technological change has led some to question whether modern Fourth Amendment doctrine appropriately protects individual privacy. This Collection considers that question across four domains: warrantless electronic … Continue reading
D.Neb.: A child locked in a basement while a party was going on upstairs was exigency
A concerned citizen called the police to report a small child was locked in his neighbor’s basement, and there was a party going on in the house. When police got there they entered without a warrant based on exigency. United … Continue reading
CNN: Robert Kraft wants video of day spa session to be kept out of trial
CNN: Robert Kraft wants video of day spa session to be kept out of trial by Steve Almasy:
WaPo: Cohen SW: Mueller sought Michael Cohen’s emails months before FBI raid, warrants show
WaPo: Cohen SW: Mueller sought Michael Cohen’s emails months before FBI raid, warrants show by Devlin Barrett, Matt Zapotosky and Rosalind S. Helderman:
E.D.Cal.: Product of a search is inadmissible in an extradition proceeding to send def to Mexico for murder trial
Mexico seeks defendant’s extradition for murder. Defendant seeks to use the product of a search warrant to show that he might not have been involved in the murder. Mexico shows sufficient evidence to extradite, and this proceeding is not to … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def made a proper showing for a Rule 17(c) subpoena for discovery for his unique 4A claim
Defendant has made a prima facie case to get a Rule 17(c) subpoena for evidence for his suppression hearing. His suppression theory is unique, but not frivolous, so the court is going to grant leeway to permit discovery. United States … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Discovery of IP search software not permitted under Rule 16 after suppression denied; it won’t be coming up at trial
Defendant doesn’t get discovery of the Freenet software used to search for defendant’s IP address under the theory it might expose a problem with the search. This is really an attempt to inject the legality of the search into the … Continue reading
Darwin Award nominee
Facebook posts eight days after a home invasion robbery show the defendants wearing the victims’ stolen Rolex and other jewelry including a unique gold coin necklace and handling the guns used in the robbery. The videos were not more prejudicial … Continue reading
NY3: Def counsel was ineffective for not objecting to SW affidavit coming into evidence full of inadmissible informant hearsay
Defendant proved ineffective assistance of counsel from defense counsel’s failure to object to the search warrant application coming into evidence full of informant hearsay that wasn’t admissible in the case in chief. People v. Newman, 2019 NY Slip Op 01263, … Continue reading
The Verge: Privacy advocate held at gunpoint after license plate reader mistake, lawsuit alleges
The Verge: Privacy advocate held at gunpoint after license plate reader mistake, lawsuit alleges by Colin Lecher:
W.D.Wash.: State’s response to a public records request wasn’t a search of plaintiff’s records
The state’s responding to a legitimate public records request under state law did not conduct a Fourth Amendment search of plaintiff’s records that came within its purview. Dalessio v. Univ. of Wash., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21907 (W.D. Wash. Feb. … Continue reading
Reason.com: The Cops Were the Aggressors in This Week’s Deadly Houston Drug Raid
Reason.com: The Cops Were the Aggressors in This Week’s Deadly Houston Drug Raid by Jacob Sullum: Even if Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas were selling heroin out of their house, the government’s violent response cannot be morally justified.
N.D.Ind.: It’s settled one can’t relitigate merits of 4A claim via 2254 habeas
This 2254 is merely an attempt to relitigate his Fourth Amendment claim in habeas, and thus it’s barred. “In his traverse, Thomas has not argued or attempted to demonstrate that there was a subversion of the hearing process in state … Continue reading
CA9: The federal appropriation statute against prosecution in MMJ cases is not an immunity from SW
In the face of the state’s medical marijuana law, the search warrant for defendant’s property was based on federal law not state law. The federal appropriations clause against prosecution in medical marijuana cases is not immunity. “The two cases that … Continue reading