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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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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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
CA9: Continuing pattern of acts made SW affidavit not stale
Defendant was indicted for use of a chemical weapon. His continuing pattern of vandalism of homes of his former customers made the information in the affidavit for the search warrant not stale. A search warrant for his computer was also … Continue reading
upworthy: Rarely does the president invite someone to the White House to criticize a 44-year-old policy.
upworthy: Rarely does the president invite someone to the White House to criticize a 44-year-old policy by Parker Molloy: “The way we treat nonviolent drug crimes is problematic, and from a fiscal perspective, it’s breaking the bank.” “It’s draconian, and … Continue reading
AP: Report: Racial disparities in arrests persist with legal pot
AP: Report: Racial disparities in arrests persist with legal pot by Kristen Wyatt: Not surprisingly, the legalization of marijuana in Colorado has reduced pot arrests, but a newly released study says it doesn’t solve one of the central goals of … Continue reading
WSJ: Two Supreme Court Justices Say Criminal-Justice System Isn’t Working
WSJ: Two Supreme Court Justices Say Criminal-Justice System Isn’t Working by Jess Bravin: Justice Breyer says mandatory minimum sentences are “a terrible idea” WASHINGTON—Two Supreme Court justices told a House subcommittee Monday that the American criminal-justice system is too harsh, … Continue reading
WaPo: ACLU sues for details of TSA’s controversial ‘behavioral detection’ program
WaPo: ACLU sues for details of TSA’s controversial ‘behavioral detection’ program by Josh Hicks: A prominent civil rights group on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking details about the controversial airport-security practice known as ‘behavioral detection,’ which critics suspect of leading … Continue reading
LATimes: Sheriff Arpaio admits violating court order in profiling suit
LATimes: Sheriff Arpaio admits violating court order in profiling suit Joe Arpaio, the outspoken Arizona sheriff who often touted his get-tough approach to combating illegal immigration, has admitted that he violated a federal judge’s orders to stop detaining people simply … Continue reading
NACDL Symposium: Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age
Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age, April 3d, American University College of Law, Washington DC (also streaming online) (Flyer): PANEL 1: New Developments in Surveillance Technology: How the Government Collects, Searches, Stores, and Shares Information PANEL 2: Challenges to the … Continue reading
AP: Michigan State Police officials demonstrate aerial drone
AP: Michigan State Police officials demonstrate aerial drone: Michigan State Police officials have demonstrated the department’s first authorized aerial drone designed to aid in investigations.
S.D.Tex. “constrained” to grant cell phone dump of records from seven providers to pinpoint one user captured on a video using his cell phone before committing a crime
Cell phone dump of records from seven providers to pinpoint one user captured on a video using his cell phone before committing a crime is granted. In re Cell Tower Records Under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d), 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
Beaufort Observer: How Osama Ben Laden repealed the Fourth Amendment
Beaufort Observer: How Osama Ben Laden repealed the Fourth Amendment: For most of America’s history the law in our nation held that the people were protected in their persons, houses, papers and effects from unreasonable search and seizure held that … Continue reading
EFF: Violating an Employer’s Computer Use Restriction Is Not a Federal Crime
EFF: Violating an Employer’s Computer Use Restriction Is Not a Federal Crime by Hanni Fakhoury and Jamie Williams
D.P.R.: Gov’t showed need for hair, blood, saliva, and prints in murder case
Defendants were indicted for a federal murder in Puerto Rico. The government seeks “hair, blood, fingerprint, palm prints, and saliva samples for analysis and comparison.” The probable cause standard is met by the indictment, and the government has shown a … Continue reading
Politico: A Letter From Black America; Yes, we fear the police. Here’s why.
Politico: A Letter From Black America; Yes, we fear the police. Here’s why. by Nikole Hannah-Hones:
Western Journalism: Private Police: Mercenaries For The American Police State
Western Journalism: Private Police: Mercenaries For The American Police State by John W. Whitehead Talk about a diabolical end run around the Constitution. It’s one thing to know and exercise your rights when a police officer pulls you over; but … Continue reading
WAMU: A D.C. Man Walks Into A Police Station And Asks For Marijuana… And Gets It
WAMU: A D.C. Man Walks Into A Police Station And Asks For Marijuana… And Gets It by Martin Austermuhle: D.C. police often confiscate drugs during the course of searches and arrests, but now D.C. residents are legally allowed to ask … Continue reading
Chicago Tribune: Why Apple can afford to get all gooey-eyed over the Fourth Amendment
Chicago Tribune: Why Apple can afford to get all gooey-eyed over the Fourth Amendment by Justin Fox. The last paragraph: Don’t get me wrong. It’s pretty awesome that Apple’s business model allows its chief executive officer to be an outspoken … Continue reading
ATL: Criminally Yours: Your ‘One’ Phone Call
ATL: Criminally Yours: Your ‘One’ Phone Call by Toni Messina Above all, don’t give them your cell phone password Recently a lawyer asked me at a party, “If I’m arrested will police take my cell phone, and if they do, … Continue reading
Ever overlooked a case or statute just because there’s too many?
United States v. Secy., Fla. Dept. of Corr., 14-10086 (11th Cir. February 27, 2015): There is a vast amount of federal law. So much that no one can hope to keep it all in mind, much less master the mass … Continue reading
CBS: Rand Paul: GOP needs to care about more than gun rights [Stated another way: The Bill of Rights isn’t multiple choice]
CBS: Rand Paul: GOP needs to care about more than gun rights by Stephanie Condon: The Republican Party needs to prove it values rights like freedom of speech and the right to a speedy trial as much as it values … Continue reading
D.Mont.: “Onlookers” reporting hearing “strangulation sounds” during an argument in an apartment was exigency
“Onlookers” reported hearing “strangulation sounds” during an argument in an apartment, and that was exigency. Defendant was an overnight guest who had standing under Olson. United States v. Harris, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182312 (D.Mont. February 24, 2015) (note incorrect … Continue reading