September 2026 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 Archives
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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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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)
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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)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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)
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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: Good faith exception
E.D.Wis.: Cert grant alone in Carpenter didn’t nullify GFE as to CSLI
The fact that SCOTUS had granted cert in Carpenter when the CSLI was obtained under a § 2703 order and not a search warrant doesn’t make government reliance on existing precedent unreasonable or show a lack good faith. United States … Continue reading
IN: Def’s raising GFE for first time in reply brief is waiver
It’s defendant’s burden in challenging a search warrant to raise both the defects in the warrant (such as a lack of probable cause) and inapplicability of the good faith exception. Raising the good faith exception in his reply brief is … Continue reading
CA6: SW’s PC doesn’t even have to be decided if affidavit falls within “heartland” of GFE
The affidavit for this search warrant could have been more detailed, but it doesn’t necessarily show it to be weak. Nevertheless, the court doesn’t even have to decide probable cause because this case falls within the “heartland” of the good … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Putting def in the back seat of a police car wasn’t unreasonable during a basic traffic stop
“Ward also argues that the traffic stop was extended by placing him in the back of the police cruiser. … However, the officer(s) needed to walk back to the police cruiser in order to complete the mission of issuing a … Continue reading
CA4: Individualized suspicion is now required for border searches of electronic devices but it wasn’t in May 2015, so the GFE applies
Warrantless forensic searches of defendant’s devices in May of 2015 lacked the required nexus to the recognized historic rationales justifying the border search exception to the warrant requirement. Officers had probable cause to suspect that defendant had previously committed grave … Continue reading
VA: State gets to argue GFE after a Carpenter remand even though it never raised the question before Carpenter was decided
Defendant was the subject of warrantless CSLI pre-Carpenter, and he petitioned for cert while Carpenter was pending. After Carpenter was decided, his case was GVR’d back to the state court of appeals. Reed v. Virginia, 138 S. Ct. 2702 (2018). … Continue reading
CA5: CSLI obtained prior to Carpenter was valid, and it didn’t taint CSLI obtained after Carpenter for backup
Defendant was suspected of being a serial bank robber in the Houston area, and the government obtain CSLI by an SCA § 2703(d) order without a showing of probable cause. Two months before trial, Carpenter was decided, and, that same … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def’s giving false name justifies extending stop
Defendant’s giving a false name extended the stop and added to the reasonable suspicion to detain him after his true identity was discovered. United States v. Jackson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188225 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 30, 2019). The affidavit for … Continue reading
KS applies Krull for GFE to statutory DUI advice of rights later held unconstitutional
The officer gave advice of DUI rights as required by state law later held unconstitutional. Under Illinois v. Krull, the court finds the officer acted in good faith, and the BAC test is not suppressed. State v. Perkins, 2019 Kan. … Continue reading
CA2 applies GFE even though not litigated below because the findings on PC show it
A second search warrant was issued for defendant’s cell phone. He argued lack of probable cause and the government responded. The government didn’t raise the good faith exception in the district court. The court assumes lack of probable cause and … Continue reading
LA: Two Rodriguez violations: car searched for weapon without RS then female officer called for a body search
Defendant was detained unreasonably without reasonable suspicion and then her car was searched for a weapon but none was found. Then the detaining officer called for a female officer to conduct a search of her person. “Because reasonable suspicion was … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Given a 4A violation for lack of particularity, subjective good faith isn’t good enough for GFE
There was a failure of particularity in this document search warrant, which the government effectively concedes, and it falls back to the good faith exception to save it. The court concludes, however, in a long analysis, that the deterrent benefits … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Ten months of Facebook seizure was way overbroad, but the govt gets the benefit of the GFE
Knowing that defendant and his confederates talked about drug transactions on Facebook messenger, the limited search warrant for that was based on probable cause, and a message was recovered referring to acquiring a “ball” and it was almost certainly an … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: The affidavit lacked PC and didn’t connect def’s van to the crime, but the GFE applies anyway
The affidavit lacked probable cause and didn’t connect defendant’s van to the crime. Yet, it wasn’t so bad that the good faith exception couldn’t apply. [Seems like it should not have applied.] United States v. Burgess, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA6: Ptf stated a 4A claim and overcame QI for the officer’s allegedly manufacturing case against him
Plaintiff produced enough evidence to show defendant officer falsified the case against him and overcame qualified immunity. The prosecutor dropped the criminal case when it was apparent it was bogus, and then plaintiff sued. Parnell v. City of Detroit, 2019 … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Affidavit for SW was “bare bones” so no GFE; Brandeis quoted
The affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s home proved to be “bare bones” and showed no probable cause or nexus to crime whatsoever. Accordingly, the good faith exception doesn’t even apply. The court cites Brandeis’s 1928 Olmstead dissent. United … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: While the “four corners” rule is the standard for evaluating probable cause, the court may go outside the four corners in applying GFE
While the “four corners” rule is the standard for evaluating probable cause, the court may go outside the four corners in applying the good faith exception. Here, the officer had additional information he didn’t include because he’d reasonably thought he’d … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Retaining new counsel and attempting to reopen suppression hearing under guise of IAC claim rejected
Defendant retained new counsel and moved to reopen his suppression hearing alleging former counsel was ineffective for not raising a better argument. The motion is denied because this claim doesn’t satisfy the standard for reopening. The issue was available and … Continue reading