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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
Today is the 254th anniversary of the “Writs of Assistance Case” and the 12th anniversary of this blog
See one of the prior posts on Paxton’s case, the original Writs of Assistance case, argued this date in 1761. John Adams credited James Otis’s argument, which he witnessed, as helping foment the Revolution and led directly to the Fourth … Continue reading
WaPo: The Watch: The Supreme Court’s massive blind spot
WaPo: The Watch: The Supreme Court’s massive blind spot by Radley Balko: This term, the Supreme Court heard two cases involving the actions of police officers during traffic stops. How the court comes down on the two cases will likely … Continue reading
WaPo: Opinions: James Comey’s candor on race
WaPo: Opinions: James Comey’s candor on race by E.J. Dionne: Last Thursday’s speech by FBI Director James Comey at Georgetown University was remarkable on its own terms, but revolutionary in the context of his agency’s history. You wonder if Hoover … Continue reading
“No more half measures, Walter.”
“The moral of the story is, I chose a half measure, when I should have gone all the way. I’ll never make that mistake again. No more half measures, Walter.” –Mike Ehrmantraut, “Breaking Bad,” S3E13
TN: Stop on computer check that LPN was wrong was valid, even if def had paperwork that said it was right
Defendant was stopped in Nashville because his LPN didn’t match his old pickup truck, which the officer checked on a hunch because it was relatively common in that area of town with older vehicles. When the defendant produced paperwork showing … Continue reading
The Drug War in action: Slate: Eight Foods That Cops Have Mistaken for Drugs
Slate: Eight Foods That Cops Have Mistaken for Drugs by Leon Neyfakh Is that crystal meth—or a Jolly Rancher?
BBC: Jeffrey Sterling’s trial by metadata
BBC: Jeffrey Sterling’s trial by metadata: When a Washington, DC, area jury convicted Jeffrey Sterling of multiple counts of espionage, the smoking gun wasn’t a key bit of classified information found in the former CIA officer’s possession; it was a … Continue reading
Slate: The Chief Justice Has Never Been Pulled Over in His Life
Slate: The Chief Justice Has Never Been Pulled Over in His Life by Cristian Farias Why John Roberts’ naiveté matters to anyone who cares about policing. And judging from how oral arguments in Rodriguez played out, you have reason to … Continue reading
Washington Examiner: 2015 can be the year of criminal justice reform
Washington Examiner: 2015 can be the year of criminal justice reform by Timothy Lynch: Criminal justice reform appears to be one of the hot topics this year. Unlike most other policy areas, where President Obama and Republicans remain at loggerheads, … Continue reading
Slate: Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? A provocative new theory
Slate: Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? A provocative new theory by Leon Neyfakh: Criminal justice reform is a contentious political issue, but there’s one point on which pretty much everyone agrees: America’s prison population is way too high. … Continue reading
NYTimes: Arizona: Maricopa Deputies Will Get Body Cameras
NYTimes: Arizona: Maricopa Deputies Will Get Body Cameras (Reuters): Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County is spending $1 million to buy 700 body cameras for deputies as part of a court ruling that found his office had racially profiled Latino … Continue reading
Miscellany
Defendant’s cell phone search prior to Riley comported with existing Fifth Circuit case law, so Davis good faith exception applies. United States v. Steric, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12340 (N.D.Tex. February 2, 2015).* The affidavits for search warrants provided probable … Continue reading
WaPo: Eyewitnesses aren’t as reliable as you might think
WaPo: Eyewitnesses aren’t as reliable as you might think by Thomas Albright and Jed Rakoff: Thomas Albright is a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Jed Rakoff is a federal district judge in the Southern District of New … Continue reading
Roll Call: How Congress Can Protect Americans’ Email Privacy | Commentary
Roll Call: How Congress Can Protect Americans’ Email Privacy | Commentary by Gabe Rottman and Katie McAuliffe: Did you lock your front door when you left for work this morning? Rest easy, then, knowing your papers are secure. But what … Continue reading
FL: Litigation of 2000 search issue in Wisconsin finding GFE applied was collateral estoppel on later case in Florida on same search
Conflict of laws: Defendant was the target of a search in 2000 in Wisconsin, and, after conviction, the warrant was found issued without probable cause but the good faith exception applied. Some of the DNA evidence from that case linked … Continue reading
CA10: Public intox arrest justified protective weapons search
An incoherent drunk wandered onto the Western Stock Show grounds mumbling and stumbling. The police were called and were going to arrest him for public intoxication. A patdown revealed a gun, and he was FIPF. The protective weapons search was … Continue reading
The Hill: Obama orders review of police militarization
The Hill: Obama orders review of police militarization: President Obama on Friday took steps to curb a federal program that arms local police with surplus military equipment. Through an executive order, the president created a working group – composed of … Continue reading
AR censures judge for issuing warrants from the bench without PC
Ark. Dem-Gaz: District judge censured for rude behavior, exceeding authority by Gavin Lesnick: According to the letter, Van Hook on four occasions issued warrants from the bench without any probable cause from law enforcement or a prosecutor. In one case, … Continue reading
D.N.J.: State trial judge’s suppression of a search under the automobile exception is not binding on the federal government because of dual sovereignty
State trial judge’s suppression of a search under the automobile exception is not binding on the federal government because of dual sovereignty. This court does not suppress. State’s interpretation of exigency for an automobile search is different than required by … Continue reading
The Nation: It’s Not Just the Cops
The Nation: It’s Not Just the Cops by Jonathan Rapping: Public defenders know that the trouble with our justice system extends far beyond abusive policing.