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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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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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)
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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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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
PA: Nexus not shown for house, and no GFE under state law: def arrested blocks from home with firearm, and that doesn’t mean more at home
Defendant shot at a cop and committed other felonies. He was sentenced to 66-132 years. He was arrested as a prohibited person with a firearm blocks from his home. The state showed no nexus to the house for other evidence … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Warrantless CSLI valid no matter how Carpenter comes out
CSLI information was obtained without a court order. Despite Carpenter being argued November 29th, the current law is that this wasn’t unreasonable. If Carpenter wins, defendant can move to reconsider. [What an empty gesture that is.] United States v. Arnold, … Continue reading
NJ: Failure of affidavit for SW to say which apartment was def’s was fatal error under state const.
There was a reasonable basis for finding probable cause that drug sales were occurring from defendant’s house, but the affidavit for the warrant failed to show which apartment in a 30 unit complex was his. Since New Jersey doesn’t recognize … Continue reading
CA10: Catch-all phrase with “not limited to” in SW makes it overly general and no GFE
In an unpublished opinion (that will at least be in Federal Appendix), the Tenth Circuit holds that the use of a “catch-all” phrase and “not limited to” in a search warrant made it incurably overbroad. The court also held that … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Circuit authority doesn’t require SW for CSLI, so there’s no point in waiting for Carpenter
CSLI without a search warrant is permitted under the law of this circuit, so there’s no point in waiting for Carpenter to be decided. [Without explicitly saying it, Davis good faith exception will apply.] United States v. Simmons, 2017 U.S. … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Facebook SW was valid when issued, but later case law said it would have been overbroad; valid by GFE
The Facebook warrant here was overbroad, but it was consistent with case law at the time. Later case law said that it would have been overbroad. Nevertheless, reliance on case law at the time the search warrant was issued is … Continue reading
CA2: Traffic stop ignored traffic inquiries and went into carrying drugs within 5 minutes; unreasonable under Rodriguez but valid at time, so GFE applies
“This appeal arises out of a traffic stop of Defendant-Appellant Brayan Gomez and his resulting judgment of conviction for heroin-trafficking …. During the five-minute traffic stop prompted by multiple traffic violations, the officers prolonged Gomez’s seizure by asking him narcotics-related … Continue reading
AZ: State didn’t argue GFE and court gives it a pass
The state didn’t raise the good faith exception in the trial court, but the court applies the “we can affirm on any ground” rule to apply it anyway. State v. Weakland, 2017 Ariz. App. LEXIS 202 (Nov. 28, 2017):
LA5: Five armed robberies in a month was exigency for ping order; GFE applied, too
Police developed defendant as a suspect in a string of five armed robberies in a month, and they sought and obtained an exigent circumstances cell phone ping order of defendant’s phone. His argument is that there were no exigent circumstances … Continue reading
D.Kan.: AOL’s TOS deny an objective REP in CP transmitted by email (on remand from CA10)
In the district court’s original opinion, reversed for reconsideration in United States v. Ackerman, 831 F.3d 1292 (10th Cir. 2016), the district court assumed defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his emails. On remand, the court determines that … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Third Leon test essentially shores up PC here
The affidavit for the child pornography search warrant here was issued at least with a reasonable belief in probable cause under the third Leon test. [The court should have just found probable cause because it certainly looks like there is … Continue reading
PA: One def pleads state constitution and wins, one doesn’t and loses
Birchfield came down after the blood draw in this case. Defendant only pled the Fourth Amendment and did not cite the state constitution. There is no good faith exception to the Pennsylvania exclusionary rule, but there is to the federal, … Continue reading
CA1: Using def’s keys to find his apt door was a “search” but it was still in GF even though that fact was in warrant application for apt
Defendant was arrested for drug dealing outside his apartment building. A search incident produced a set of keys. The police tried the keys on the apartment door until they worked. They didn’t enter but used the facts they’d developed plus … Continue reading
NE: Birchfield was decided day after def’s DUI conviction; GFE applies
Defendant was convicted of DUI the day before Birchfield was decided, and he moved for a new trial. The trial court denied the motion, and he appeals. The good faith exception applies to that which happened before Birchfield (without even … Continue reading
SD: Two months of pole camera surveillance without even RS violated a REP that society would recognize as reasonable; GFE applies, however
Defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy that society is now prepared to recognize as reasonable from installation of a pole camera across the street from his house and monitoring it for two months based solely on a tip that … Continue reading
TX: Dissent added to Texas’s adopting Davis good faith exception to statutory exclusionary rule
Back in March was this post: Texas finally adopts the Davis good faith exception to its statutory exclusionary rule reporting on McClintock v. State, 2017 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 291 (March 22, 2017). A dissent was just added in McClintock … Continue reading
N.D.W.Va.: GFE generally doesn’t apply to warrantless searches
Defendant’s wife did not voluntarily consent to the police entry into the basement of her bar. First, they detained defendant behind the bar. Then police came to the bar in great numbers (6-15, depending on the witness) while the bar … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: While def’s Navy commander in CA couldn’t authorize military search on a base in VA, GFE applies
Defendant was in the Navy, and, due to a potential rape allegation against him, a pretext text message was sent to him by NCIS on behalf of the alleged victim. Defendant was stationed in San Diego, but he was in … Continue reading
CA8: (1) In drug conspiracy case, the govt overcame staleness because of ongoing crime; (2) Issuance of SW in D.Neb. by non-cross designated USMJ in N.D.Iowa was subject to GFE
First, the search warrant in this drug conspiracy case wasn’t stale, although a long time had elasped during and between the times recorded in the affidavit of things that happened. While the evidence wasn’t strong, the deference accorded the issuing … Continue reading
D.Minn.: PC for SW doesn’t even need to be decided if the GFE would apply
Probable cause doesn’t even need to be decided if the good faith exception would apply. “Even assuming without deciding that the search warrants lacked probable cause, the Court concludes that the evidence is nonetheless admissible under the good-faith exception to … Continue reading