May 2024 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Archives
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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Apple, Google and Venmo fight new U.S. plan to monitor payment apps
- CA4: Tracking order using cell site simulator with PC was reasonable
- CADC: When searching a cell phone and officers find it belonged to someone else, a new SW isn’t required; SWs are directed at things, places, and people and owner doesn’t matter for PC
- Seattle Times: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana in a historic shift, AP sources
- D.N.M.: Even if def’s DNA was not obtained by consent, inevitable discovery applies
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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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)
--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) -
“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 -
"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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew "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)
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
CA6: A minimal showing of nexus is enough for GFE even where PC is lacking
The affidavit failed to show probable cause. There was a minimal showing of nexus. That’s enough here for the good faith exception. United States v. Helton, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 13943 (6th Cir. May 24, 2022):
CA11: Health care fraud records SW permitted search of VCR tapes
After a year long investigation, officers obtained a search warrant for defendant’s medical clinic for health care fraud. They found videotapes in a cluttered backroom, and, based on the warrant, believed that they could contain evidence of the alleged fraud. … Continue reading
Rawstory: Georgia deputies infuriate school officials with ‘humiliating’ roadside search of Black lacrosse team’s luggage (updated)
Rawstory: Georgia deputies infuriate school officials with ‘humiliating’ roadside search of Black lacrosse team’s luggage by Travis Gettys:
Reason: Faulty Police Field Tests Said This Trucker Was Carrying 700 Gallons of Meth. It Was Diesel.
Reason: Faulty Police Field Tests Said This Trucker Was Carrying 700 Gallons of Meth. It Was Diesel. by Ed Ciaramella (“Juan Guzman spent nearly six weeks in jail based on unreliable field tests that have resulted in hundreds of other … Continue reading
Another crime leads to more surveillance
The Hill: Former federal prosecutor says Jan. 6 led to FBI increasing surveillance of American public by Brad Dress (“Journalist and former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori on Wednesday contended that the events of January 6 have led to the increased … Continue reading
Since Sen. Cotton is one of my senators …
and I’ve been a criminal defender since November 1979 (after my stint at the local prosecutor’s office from mid-1973): WaPo: Cruz and Cotton cut to the chase on GOP’s suspicion of defense lawyers by Aaron Blake (“With their criticisms of … Continue reading
Free defense CLE on technology warrants
NACDL: 2022 NACDL and the Samuelson Clinic’s Seminar: Unlocking the Black Box, free CLE on technology warrants in Chicago May 16-17.
NY3: Electronic logging device requirement on large trucks reasonable under 4A
A federal interstate truck requirement of an electronic logging device on the truck, incorporated under New York statute, for GPS, speed, and an event recorder is reasonable as an administrative search under the Fourth Amendment. It tracks the truck, not … Continue reading
MI SC review granted in drone pictures case
The Michigan Supreme Court has apparently granted review in the March 2021 drone pictures decision in Long Lake Twp. v. Maxon, 2021 Mich. App. LEXIS 1819 (Mar. 18, 2021) posted here. Long Lake Twp. v. Maxon, 2022 Mich. LEXIS 503 … Continue reading
Buzzfeed News: ICE Conducted Sweeping Surveillance Of Money Transfers Sent To And From The US, A Senator Says
Buzzfeed News: ICE Conducted Sweeping Surveillance Of Money Transfers Sent To And From The US, A Senator Says (“Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents obtained millions of people’s financial records as part of a surveillance program that fed the information to … Continue reading
Fourthamendment.com 19 years old today
It is also the 262d anniversary of the argument in Paxton’s case, something I note every year. Visiting the Old Boston State House and seeing the exhibit of the court argument will make an impression.
MA: ShotSpotter alert and officer’s observations were RS on totality
ShotSpotter alert received by a nearby officer in the early morning hours with his observations on the scene in a minute or so on the totality was reasonable suspicion. Commonwealth v. Ford, 2022 Mass. App. LEXIS 14 (Feb. 18, 2022):
CA11 (en banc): GFE considered even though waived before the panel
The Eleventh Circuit en banc concludes that the good faith exception may sometimes be reached on appeal even though the government didn’t raise it before the panel. United States v. Campbell, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 4317 (11th Cir. Feb. 16, … Continue reading
Kerr: Katz as Originalism
Orin S. Kerr, Katz as Originalism, 71 Duke L. J. 1047 (2022). Abstract:
Law360: Baltimore PD Reach Deal To End Aerial Surveillance Challenge
Law360: Baltimore PD Reach Deal To End Aerial Surveillance Challenge by Allison Grande
EFF: Police Aerial Surveillance Endangers Our Ability to Protest
EFF: Police Aerial Surveillance Endangers Our Ability to Protest by Matthew Guariglia (“The ACLU of Northern California has concluded a year-long Freedom of Information campaign by uncovering massive spying on Black Lives Matter protests from the air. The California Highway … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Interesting, but not about application of Fourth Amendment law
Unum Life Insurance sought declaratory judgment that it wanted to know who to pay life insurance to under Oklahoma’s “slayer rule” that a killer can’t take life insurance or under an estate. Here, the alleged killer was not mentally fit, … Continue reading
WaPo: For seniors using tech to age in place, surveillance can be the price of independence
WaPo: For seniors using tech to age in place, surveillance can be the price of independence by Heather Kelly (“To age in their own homes, seniors are juggling being watched with being on their own”):
Intercept: School Officials Welcome Homeland Security Surveillance After Student Fights
Intercept: School Officials Welcome Homeland Security Surveillance After Student Fights (“Administrators in Prince George’s County say they wanted help monitoring school safety — but sweeping surveillance could land kids in gang databases and families in deportation proceedings.”)
CNS: Activists leak 600 hours of mostly Dallas police helicopter footage after city’s 22 terabyte loss of criminal case data
CNS: Activists leak 600 hours of mostly Dallas police helicopter footage after city’s 22 terabyte loss of criminal case data (“The leaked video shows the surveillance of people in their front yards, standing by their cars and sunbathing with no … Continue reading