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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)
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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. 
Category Archives: Uncategorized
MD: Officer’s affidavit that said that cell phones are often used in violent crimes to document the crime was sufficient PC for warrant for phone
“The affidavit in support of the search warrant provided a substantial basis for the warrant-issuing judge to find probable cause to search Appellant’s cell phone where the warrant affidavit stated that Appellant was arrested and found with an assault victim’s … Continue reading
OR: A general motion to suppress saying only that the state has to justify a warrantless search was properly struck
The trial court did not err in striking defendant’s motion to suppress for failing to cite authority. “Furthermore, as noted, defendant’s motion was not accompanied by a brief or supporting memorandum providing such authority. Thus, defendant’s motion did not satisfy … Continue reading
MN: Dog sniff at apartment door violates 4A and state const.
A dog sniff at an apartment door violates both the Fourth Amendment and the Minnesota Constitution, considering it under the “privacy rights” analysis of Jardines’s concurrence (also accepted by CA7). Whether it is a house or an apartment, it’s still … Continue reading
NLJ: DreamHost Appeals Warrant Seeking Data on Trump Inauguration Protests
NLJ: DreamHost Appeals Warrant Seeking Data on Trump Inauguration Protests by Michael Booth:
SC: Looking at cell phone SIM card to get owner information off phone was reasonable
Defendant left his cell phone behind at the scene of an attempted murder. Police removed the SIM card solely to find the name of the owner, then they obtained a search warrant for the SIM card. The limited use of … Continue reading
OH2: Strieff attenuation doctrine not applied to an unlawful warrantless entry into a house and then finding a warrant on the defendant
Strieff attenuation doctrine not applied to an unlawful warrantless entry into a house and then finding a warrant on the defendant. State v. Turpin, 2017-Ohio-7435, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 3744, Sept. 1, 2017):
W.D.N.C.: No IAC for not challenging facially sufficient Costa Rican SW issued at US request
The government issued letters rogatory to Costa Rica for investigation of a sweepstakes fraud calling the United States from there. Based on the request, the Costa Rican judiciary referred the matter to their department of justice which obtained search warrants. … Continue reading
CAAF: It violated Miranda to order soldier provide password to unlock properly seized cell phone
It violated a Mirandized suspect’s Fifth Amendment rights to direct him to enter the passcode into a properly seized cell phone to unlock it for a search. United States v. Mitchell, 2017 CAAF LEXIS 856 (C.A. A.F. Aug. 30, 2017):
GA: Def didn’t consent: he was alternately mumbling and screaming incomprehensibly and choking and vomiting
Defendant who was handcuffed and held to the ground, alternately mumbling and screaming incomprehensibly, and vomiting or choking at times didn’t consent. State v. Osterloh, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 396 (Aug. 30, 2017).* The warrantless entry into defendant’s apartment violated … Continue reading
ND: Def could not be arrested for refusing to submit to a warrantless urine test during a DUI arrest
Defendant could not be arrested for refusing to submit to a warrantless urine test during a DUI arrest. State v. Helm, 2017 ND 207, 2017 N.D. LEXIS 213 (Aug. 29, 2017). Playpen warrant sustained. United States v. Allen, 2017 U.S. … Continue reading
CA5: Inmate strip searches on leaving a prison garment factory are reasonable security measures
Inmate strip searches on leaving a prison garment factory are reasonable security measures. There are tools and other things in the factory that could be turned into weapons. Lewis v. Sec’y of Pub. Safety & Corr., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: No standing in emails obtained from def’s former company
Defendant didn’t have standing to complain that emails were produced by subpoena from a prior company he was involved with. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in them. United States v. Shkreli, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140150 (E.D. N.Y. … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Long protective weapons search applied to inside screen door where officers believed they saw a gun stasheda
Officers saw defendant on the street at 11:40 pm, and they saw what they thought might be a gun in his pocket. They turned around, and he got to his house, stashed the object inside the door, and came back … Continue reading
NH: No constitutional prohibition of state court issuing SW for records stored out of state
There is no constitutional prohibition from a state court issuing a search warrant for cell phone records of a provider doing business in the state even when the records are physically located in another state. Territoriality in the statute applies … Continue reading
WUNC Public Radio: WATCH: Nurse Roughly Arrested For Following Hospital Protocol, Body Camera Shows
WUNC Public Radio: WATCH: Nurse Roughly Arrested For Following Hospital Protocol, Body Camera Shows by Merritt Kennedy: A Utah nurse and her attorney have released video footage showing an officer roughly arresting her at University of Utah Hospital in Salt … Continue reading
CA7: In § 1983 case, the SW was issued with PC and wasn’t overbroad
In a § 1983 case over a search warrant issued during the “John Doe” investigation from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure as Milwaukee County Executive, the plaintiff’s claim fails on the officers allegedly knowing the thought processes of the judge … Continue reading
ID: Def’s attempt to remove purse from car after consent to search car was her limitation on consent
When defendant consented to a search of her car, she attempted to remove her purse, and the officer had to honor that as a limitation on the consent. He ordered her to put it back, and that was mere acquiesce … Continue reading
MA: Smell of MJ on a nonstudent at school wasn’t RS for a frisk of backpack
When defendant, a nonstudent, arrived at school and was surrounded by school officials who smelled of marijuana (a civil offense), the frisk of her backpack was without any reasonable suspicion of criminality or that there was a weapon present. Commonwealth … Continue reading
Above the Law: Issue Spotter: How Many Cops Need To Be Fired Based On These Facts? If you answer ‘one,’ you fail. YOU are part of the problem. a
Above the Law: Issue Spotter: How Many Cops Need To Be Fired Based On These Facts? If you answer ‘one,’ you fail. YOU are part of the problem. By Elie Mystal
TN: 15 minutes of knocking on door demanding knock-and-talk did not lead to voluntary consent to enter
“[W]e conclude that the trial court erred by using a subjective rather than objective test in finding that the exigent circumstances were not sufficient to justify the officers’ entering the residence to perform a protective sweep. However, we determine that … Continue reading