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- VA: Body cam video of valid arrest would not be suppressed
- NM: Trial court’s finding of consent is reversed because the court engaged in its own internet investigation beyond what the parties provided
- Reason: No Warrant, No Suspicion, No Problem: Flock and Border Cellphone Searches Excluded From 4th Amendment Rules
- Reason: Flock’s Gunfire Alerts Raise a New Fourth Amendment Question
- N.D.Ohio: Car in driveway was on curtilage and plain view prohibited
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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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General (many free):
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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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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: Issue preclusion
CA5: Police accidentally shooting a hostage isn’t an intentional seizure
“Here, the only plausible reading of the allegations is that Doe accidentally shot Ulises while trying to help him by ending the hostage situation. Such accidental conduct does not result in a Fourth Amendment seizure. See Brower, 489 U.S. at … Continue reading
CA10: Successor habeas denied on claim state judges denied 4A claims because they were racist
2254 petitioner’s claim the state courts failed to adequately consider his Fourth Amendment claim because they were racist was still barred as a successive habeas. White v. Crow, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 6769 (10th Cir. Mar. 9, 2021):
E.D.Tex.: 4A arrest claim also subject to Stone bar
Defendant’s 2254 claim that his arrest was without probable cause on mistaken identity is foreclosed by Stone v. Powell the same as Fourth Amendment search claims. “The opportunity, regardless of whether it is acted upon at the state level, is … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Def gets access to SW materials, but govt can redact informant’s info
The target of a search warrant long ago served is entitled to unsealing the affidavit, but the government can redact the affiant’s name and identifying information. United States v. Storage Room Numbers, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35977 (E.D. N.Y. Feb. … Continue reading
CA4: Suit by convict over arrest without PC doesn’t mention conviction and isn’t barred by Heck
Plaintiff’s complaint that his arrest was without probable cause doesn’t necessarily implicate his guilt or innocence, and it isn’t barred by Heck. He doesn’t even mention the conviction. Dizzley v. Garrett, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 4314 (4th Cir. Feb. 16, … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Failure to timely make return of papers under Rule 41 not a 4A violation
Failure to make the return of the warrant to the clerk along with the inventory in violation of Rule 41 requires more than just negligence in failing to do it on time. Where’s the prejudice? The court will not speculate … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: State court’s findings on PC [not appealed] not binding on federal court
A state court’s findings of lack of probable cause to proceed with some charges against the defendant isn’t binding on federal courts. “Based on the evidence presented at the hearing, including the 911 calls, bodycam footage, and the credible and … Continue reading
CA2: Later search of bag was inevitable discovery overcoming objection to first search
Even if the search of defendant’s bag was invalid, he was taken to the police station and his bag was validly searched again an inventory. United States v. Ruffin, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 3351 (2d Cir. Feb. 8, 2021). Defendant’s … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Guilty plea in state court precludes claim that arrest lacked PC
Having pled guilty in state court, plaintiff can’t complain that the arrest leading to the plea lacked probable cause. Moser v. Davis, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13308 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 25, 2021). Petitioner had a “full and fair” opportunity to … Continue reading
TX11: No spousal privilege in recorded jail calls
Defendant’s jail calls to his wife were not privileged because he knew from the recording at the start of the call that it was being recorded. Newman v. State, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 293 (Tex. App. – Eastland Jan. 14, … Continue reading
CA4: Ptf’s claim the statute he was arrested under was unconstitutional is barred by DeFillippo
Plaintiff’s claim that his arrest and search was invalid because the statute under which he was stopped and arrested was unconstitutional is barred by Michigan v. DeFillippo. Quigley v. City of Huntington, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 760 (4th Cir. Jan. … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Address wasn’t required where picture of property was in SW
Defendant’s address wasn’t included in the affidavit for the search warrant, but its picture was and there was no mistake on the place searched. That was sufficient. United States v. Lingo, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3861 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 8, … Continue reading
CA10: Ptf’s conviction barred his 1983 claim because it established facts against him under Heck
“Mr. Birch’s convictions preclude him from establishing a genuine issue of material fact as to his Fourth Amendment excessive force claims against Officers Sinclair, Page, and Stout, Fourteenth Amendment malicious prosecution claims, and Fourth Amendment false arrest claims. In dismissing … Continue reading
CA11: Successor habeas over detention that led to confession not based on newly discovered evidence
Petitioner’s 2254 successor petition is denied on his claim that his detention was unreasonable that led to his confession. “Nero’s claims do not meet the statutory criteria. He indicates that his claims do not rely on a new rule of … Continue reading
CA5: Ptf’s underlying conviction is attacked by his 4A claim and thus barred by Heck
“We begin with Price’s Fourth Amendment excessive force claims as alleged in his proposed amended complaint. The district court concluded that Price’s claims, even as amended, remained ‘inseparable’ from his conviction for battery of an officer and, thus, were barred … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: State court’s suppression of evidence is a fact question for trial on underlying facts and findings and not preclusive
Plaintiff was charged in state court with possession, and the state court credited his version over that of the officers on the basis for the stop because their testimony was contradictory and confusing. Still, that doesn’t have preclusive effect in … Continue reading
CA10: Heck bars excessive force claim where it attacks ptf’s guilty plea
“Heck bars Mr. Hooks from recovering damages based on the first four alleged uses of force. Mr. Hooks’s no contest plea to two counts of assault and battery of a police officer means he admitted repeatedly hitting the officers before … Continue reading
CA6: State court’s failure to remand for more factfinding was still a “full and fair opportunity to litigate” his 4A claim
Habeas petitioner’s CoA request is denied. His claim that he was denied a “full and fair opportunity to litigate” his Fourth Amendment claim because the state appellate court didn’t remand for fact finding is rejected. He had the opportunity to … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: “Unconscionable breakdown” in SW litigation process can state habeas claim, but petitioner doesn’t plead or show one
“Petitioner does not argue that he was not provided a correct procedure to redress his Fourth Amendment claim. And indeed, there is no basis for such an argument, as the Second Circuit has indicated that New York’s procedure for litigating … Continue reading