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- D.Mont.: Delay of USPS Express Mail for dog sniff didn’t violate 4A
- S.D.W.Va.: Warrantless arrest at door for CSAM didn’t support plain view seizure of cell phone
- OH2: Parking on the grass justified stop
- CA11: NCMEC’s cybertips are reliable enough to support PC and the GFE
- MS: Execution style murder in public in broad daylight was exigency to get suspect’s CSLI
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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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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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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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
MS: Forensic search of computer in a county other than where SW was served violates no law
The fact a forensic search of defendant’s computer was done in a county other than where the search warrant for its seizure was executed doesn’t violate any law. Fields v. State, 2025 Miss. App. LEXIS 430 (Nov. 4, 2025). The … Continue reading
D.P.R.: No suppression hearing required when there’s no factual dispute
You don’t get a hearing on a motion to suppress without showing a factual dispute to be resolved. United States v. Figueroa-Figueroa, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218467 (D.P.R. Nov. 4, 2025). “A claim that a law enforcement official used excessive … Continue reading
D.N.M.: SW nondisclosure order denied for lack of supervisor certification
In re Application for AT&T Non-Disclosure Order, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218179 (D.N.M. Nov. 4, 2025), is denied for lack of certification from a supervising official as required by statute. Defendant was subject to a probation search waiver, and there … Continue reading
CA6: Applying PC deference, there was PC for this warrant based on informant hearsay
“Applying this deference here, we conclude that the state judge properly found probable cause based on the informant’s claims that Howard stored illegal drugs at his apartment. The officer’s affidavit adequately established the informant’s reliability and basis of knowledge. First, … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: Frequency of cell searches not a 4A claim
“Plaintiff complains of cell searches that are unscheduled or more frequent than she believes they should be. Such a claim does not state a constitutional violation. Even assuming that TDCJ policy dictates the frequency of searches, additional searches are not … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Private case subpoenas not 4A issue
A private party issuing subpoenas in a civil case is not subject to the Fourth Amendment. Rodney v. TransUnion LLC., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211570 (C.D. Cal. Sep. 2, 2025). This Walmart store’s asset protection person was considered a reliable … Continue reading
CA8: While the nexus showing was weak, GFE still applied
This affidavit for search warrant didn’t show nexus, but it wasn’t so lacking that the good faith exception didn’t apply. Some information was provided, and it was more than in cases where it was lacking. United States v. Diaz, 2025 … Continue reading
OH1: With legalization of marijuana, the smell of marijuana is no longer probable cause in itself
With legalization of marijuana, the smell of marijuana is no longer probable cause in itself. “While the smell of marijuana remains a relevant factor under the totality of the circumstances to a probable-cause analysis, it is no longer sufficient, standing … Continue reading
HI: Failure to include affidavit for SW in record precludes appellate review
Failure to include the affidavit for search warrant in the record precludes appellate review. As best the court can on the merits, defendant would lose anyway. State v. Bibbs, 2025 Haw. App. LEXIS 451 (Sep. 22, 2025). The search of … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Arrest on outdated warrant doesn’t depend on its underlying validity
Plaintiff’s arrest on an outdated warrant doesn’t depend on the underlying validity of the warrant. Here, the warrant wasn’t purged from the system before plaintiff’s stop and arrest. Otero v. District of Columbia, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185918 (D.D.C. Sep. … Continue reading
CA7: No REP in an “out of order” restroom defendant slipped in to to hide a gun
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a convenience store bathroom where, calling attention to himself, he ducked inside to hide a gun and didn’t lock the door. United States v. Scott, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 22618 (7th Cir. … Continue reading
Six on habeas
Petitioner’s habeas claims include a Fourth Amendment claim barred by Stone. Steward v. Napoli, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169230 (S.D.N.Y. July 31, 2025).* Same: Bogan v. Christiansen, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 22218 (6th Cir. Aug. 27, 2025). The state court … Continue reading
Guam case shows: Don’t cross examine about the CI without a clear goal in mind
This started with a CI for a search warrant, but the hearing on the motion to suppress revealed there were actually three others. That information was outside the “four corners” but it cemented the probable cause. Guam v. Guerrero, 2025 … Continue reading
VA: Dog repeatedly jumping onto the vehicle during the dog sniff was a search
The drug-sniffing dog’s repeatedly jumping onto and placing paws on a vehicle during a drug sniff constitutes a physical trespass for the purpose of obtaining information, and therefore qualifies as a search under the Fourth Amendment. Commonwealth v. Wiggins, 2025 … Continue reading
MS: The CIs were co-conspirators and eyewitnesses and could be credited
The three informants were co-conspirators, eyewitnesses, and participants in the crime, and their information could be credited for search warrant. Taylor v. State, 2025 Miss. App. LEXIS 292 (Aug. 12, 2025). Defendant’s 2255 re-raises his Fourth Amendment claim already rejected. … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: No exigency shown for warrantless domestic entry
Based on the complaint, there were no exigent circumstances justifying the warrantless entry into the home for a domestic disturbance that had calmed way down before police got there. Intertwined is the qualified immunity claim, and there’s not enough here … Continue reading
CA7: Lifting mattress during protective sweep here wasn’t justified
The protective sweep under a mattress here was unjustified. Protective sweeps have to be based on known facts, not theories. Here, without deciding whether it was justified, on this record, lifting a mattress was unreasonable. There was no reason to … Continue reading
CA8: Social media video of SW target shooting guns justified no-knock entry
Social media videos of a target of the warrant shooting guns viewed before obtaining the warrant justified a no-knock warrant. Davenport v. City of Little Rock, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 16540 (8th Cir. July 7, 2025). Plaintiff’s various claims, including … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Heck bar has to be pled in first defensive pleading
The Heck bar is an affirmative defense that has to be pled by defendants under F.R.C.P. 8(c). Megna v. Musial, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127980 (E.D. Wis. July 7, 2025). Defendant’s driving justified his stop. State v. Craven, 2025 Wash. … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Particularity is a function of what’s known
“That said, specificity is ‘relative,’ and a warrant ‘need not be more specific than knowledge allows.’ United States v. Bishop, 910 F.3d 335, 338 (7th Cir. 2018). In other words, law enforcement is required to particularize a warrant only to … Continue reading