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- USA Today: Cell phone SW for cause of crash
- Treatise on sale to 11/1
- MD: While protective sweep information made it into SW affidavit, there was PC without it
- N.D.Ga.: A Customs forensic search of a cell phone away from the border was still a border search
- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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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
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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: Good faith exception
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
CA9: Even if state tracking warrant was limited to state, GFE applies
Assuming without deciding that a state tracking warrant couldn’t be tracked outside the state, the exclusionary rule would not be applied because the officers were all clearly operating in good faith. Moreover, defendant’s committing yet another bank robbery while he … Continue reading
OH10: 1st time CI’s admission of own crimes aided his credibility
First time CI’s admission of own criminal involvement bolstered his credibility for use in probable cause. State v. Mendoza, 2019-Ohio-3382, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 3457 (10th Dist. Aug. 22, 2019). There was probable cause for issuance of the search warrant. … Continue reading
CA6: District Court’s limited record prevents finding cell phone search was reasonable or inevitable discovery or GFE applied
Defendant was found passed out in a car. Defendant’s cell phone was seized as evidence, apparently of how he almost OD’d. An accidental glimpse at defendant’s phone revealed a thumbnail of potential child pornography. The district court applied the wrong … Continue reading
SD: Def wasn’t stopped by the officer when he encountered car based on anonymous call
Police received an anonymous call that a particular van was DUI. An officer found the van parked at a gas station, parked far enough away that defendant could back out, and he walked up and asked how defendant was doing, … Continue reading
D.Mass.: GFE applies to scope of search under SW where place to be searched was two floors, not one
The issue here is whether the search warrant was overbroad because it turned out that the place to be searched was really two floors not one, but it wasn’t obvious from the outside. “The Court need not resolve this complex … Continue reading
CA9: Order suppressing laptop search for lack of PC and delay reversed; not wholely lacking in PC and delay was not unreasonable or culpable
The order suppressing a laptop search is reversed. The computer was seized under a state search warrant but searched under a federal warrant. Even if probable cause was lacking for the issuance of the search warrant, it was close enough … Continue reading
CA2: Govt doesn’t get GFE in forfeiture search and seizure for overbreadth and particularity problem it created
In a forfeiture case initiated with a search warrant, defects in the warrant process denied the government resort to the good faith exception for failure to apprise all the officers what they were looking for and not attaching exhibits to … Continue reading
CA11: 4A IAC claim fails on merits of search issue
Petitioner’s IAC claim against defense counsel for not pursuing a Fourth Amendment claim was properly denied for lack of standing on the merits. Virgil v. Sec’y, Dept. of Corrections, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 23777 (11th Cir. Aug. 8, 2019).* Defendant’s … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Violation of NYC bicycle ordinance and evasiveness justified arrest and search incident
Violation of the NYC bicycle use ordinance justifies arrest if necessary, and defendant was riding his bike on the sidewalk. “Here, the officers’ search of Defendant was incident to the lawful stop of Defendant for a bicycle traffic infraction, that … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: On remand of Byrd, GFE applied to standing issue
On the Sixth Circuit’s remand of Byrd v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 1518 (2018), to the District Court, the court finds the good faith exception applies to standing issues arising before it was decided. United States v. Byrd, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
NY1: Parole officer’s search of def on arrest revealed gun; trial court erred in suppressing
Defendant’s parole officer had a warrant for defendant, and a patdown with the arrest resulted in plain feel of a gun. The trial court erred in suppressing the gun because it was validly found. People v. Jennings, 2019 NY Slip … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: It is proper for court to focus on pre-warrant police activities in deciding GFE question
Focusing on the officer’s pre-warrant activities, the court finds that their conduct in entering defendant’s hotel room was unreasonable and in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Thus, the good faith exception should not apply because it’s not reliance on the … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Prior judicial complaints of thin PC from officer go unheeded, but this SW survives GFE anyway
The district court once chided the officer here for a lackadaisical attitude toward showing probable cause with thin facts. The Seventh Circuit concurred but upheld it. And, the officer does it again. Commenting on the past, the court finds it … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Computer SW for drugs led to healthcare fraud evidence; second SW needed; exclusionary rule should apply to deter
The government had a search warrant of ESI for drugs. When the search warrant was executed, they found evidence of healthcare billing fraud. A second search warrant was required, citing the government’s own search manual [noted and linked on the … Continue reading