Archives
-
Recent Posts
- 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
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
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)
-
“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
The Hill: GOP chairman joins with Dems on bill to limit cellphone spying
The Hill: GOP chairman joins with Dems on bill to limit cellphone spying by Julian Hattem: The Republican head of the House Oversight Committee is teaming up with a pair of Democrats to try to enact new limits on the … Continue reading
AP (via AOL): Florida woman streamed live video of drunken driving
AP (via AOL): Florida woman streamed live video of drunken driving: Authorities say 911 calls from concerned viewers led to the arrest of a Florida woman who was streaming live video of herself while driving drunk. Lakeland police report 23-year-old … Continue reading
AP (via ABC): Couple Prolongs Police Standoff for Sex ‘One Last Time’; leading to resisting charge
AP (via ABC): Couple Prolongs Police Standoff for Sex ‘One Last Time’: A man and woman have been arrested after officials say they prolonged a standoff with police in order to have sex. Police tell local news outlets they responded … Continue reading
OH8: Stop wasn’t justified where the video didn’t support the officer’s testimony
Defendant’s stop wasn’t justified where the video didn’t support the officer’s testimony. City of Middleburg Heights v. Wojciechowski, 2015-Ohio-3879, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 3758 (8th Dist. September 24, 2015). It was reasonable to stop defendant’s car on a shots fired … Continue reading
KY: Payton’s “reason to believe” the person named in the arrest warrant is home is less than probable cause
Payton’s “reason to believe” the person named in the arrest warrant is home is less than probable cause. This is apparently the majority rule. Barrett v. Commonwealth, 2015 Ky. LEXIS 1859 (September 24, 2015):
NYTimes: Police Program Aims to Pinpoint Those Most Likely to Commit Crimes
NYTimes: Police Program Aims to Pinpoint Those Most Likely to Commit Crimes by John Eligon and Timothy Williams: Mr. Brown, whose criminal record includes drug and assault charges, is at the center of an experiment taking place in dozens of … Continue reading
NYTimes: Postal Service Failed to Protect Personal Data in Mail Surveillance, Report Says
NYTimes: Postal Service Failed to Protect Personal Data in Mail Surveillance, Report Says by Ron Nixon: WASHINGTON — Employees of the United States Postal Service failed to properly safeguard documents that included the names, addresses and financial information used by … Continue reading
KS: After suppression and affirmance on appeal, law of the case bars state from relitigating search after recharging
After the state lost a motion to suppress and an interlocutory appeal, it admittedly manipulated a recharging to get a second suppression hearing. The first was law of the case. “The doctrine of law of the case prevents a party … Continue reading
CA6: Social media selfie created RS for parole search
Defendant was on supervision for a prior child pornography offense. Police looked to his social media page and found him taking a naked selfie wearing a Santa hat with a camera phone, a violation of the terms of his release. … Continue reading
AL: 76 year old with prior felonies sentenced to LWOP for 2.2 lbs marijuana
The 76 year old defendant, a prior habitual offender for violent crimes, was sentenced to life without parole for possession of 2.2 pounds of marijuana, the trial court thinking it had no discretion on the sentence. Defense counsel raised a … Continue reading
AZ: A probation or parole search must be reasonable under the totality of circumstances; reasonable suspicion not required
A probation or parole search must be reasonable under the totality of circumstances, and the trial court erred in requiring reasonable suspicion. State v. Adair, 2015 Ariz. App. LEXIS 179 (September 3, 2015):
W.D.Pa.: Def couldn’t show standing for CSLI on this phone, and, even if he could, he’d lose
Reiterating a prior opinion in the case, the defendant did not show standing to challenge CSLI on a phone associated with him, and even if he could, he’d lose on the merits (surveying the cases). United States v. Woodley, 2015 … Continue reading
NYTimes: A Surreptitious Courtroom Video Prompts Changes in a Georgia Town
NYTimes: A Surreptitious Courtroom Video Prompts Changes in a Georgia Town by Sheila Dewan: An explosion of cellphone videos has brought renewed attention to police practices, provoking criticism, indictments and talk of criminal justice overhaul. Courtroom videos of judges in … Continue reading
AJC: Officer, homeowner shot when DeKalb police respond to wrong house
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Officer, homeowner shot when DeKalb police respond to wrong house by Ben Gray and Alexis Stevens. They entered solely because of an unlocked, not open, door: A DeKalb County police officer was critically injured, a homeowner injured and … Continue reading
ND: Officer who had no authority to move things in car conducted a search, so it wasn’t a valid plain view
The officer only had permission to move defendant’s vehicle. Inside, he moved around something to get a better look at a bag and searched it. The motion to suppress should have been granted because this was not a valid plain … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Some wiretap records are unsealed on request from press
The press sought unsealing of wiretapping related materials, and the parties are asked for their positions. The court orders partial release. United States v. Chow, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114802 (N.D.Cal. August 28, 2015):
ND: State didn’t even attempt to justify inventory; policy was required to be proved
The trial court did not err in finding that the impoundment and inventory was unreasonable. The vehicle was unlicensed, but the officer did not decide to inventory it until he found out defendant gave him a false identification. The state … Continue reading
The Independent: The US government has begun trialling methods to disable and track commercial drones
The Independent: The US government has begun trialling methods to disable and track commercial drones by Doug Bolton: The US government is conducting tests into ways to disable and track drones that may infiltrate sensitive sites.
The Hill: Feds share info on subpoenas against media outlets
The Hill: Feds share info on subpoenas against media outlets by Julian Hattem: The federal government authorized searches against news organizations 10 different times in 2014, the Justice Department said Friday.
PolitiFact: Rand Paul says the Fourth Amendment ‘was what we fought the Revolution over’ (mostly true)
“The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over. John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence.” — Rand Paul on Thursday, August 6th, 2015 in a Republican presidential debate in Cleveland PolitiFact: … Continue reading