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- E.D.Mich.: Second SW for cell phone data retained by govt was valid
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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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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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"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: Waiver
OH9: ‘A determination that reasonable suspicion exists, however, need not rule out the possibility of innocent conduct. Terry accepts the risk that officers may stop innocent people.’”
“‘A determination that reasonable suspicion exists, however, need not rule out the possibility of innocent conduct. Terry accepts the risk that officers may stop innocent people.’” State v. Kleintop, 2021-Ohio-3584, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 3493 (9th Dist. Oct. 6, 2021). … Continue reading
KY: Stop of a known druggy on the street was without RS
Two officers in two cars pulled up on defendant walking down the street with another known druggy. The officers and defendant knew each other because they’d arrested him before. The trial court did not err in finding this was a … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: 101 day delay in cell phone SW after seizure not 4A violation
The delay between the search and the seizure of defendant’s cell phones seized on his arrest was 101 days long, but, compared to the reduced privacy interest in the phone because of evidentiary value, it was not constitutionally unreasonable. United … Continue reading
CA7: Untimely filed suppression motion is waived
The three defendants filed untimely motions to suppress under the scheduling order; two were in the days before the trial and the third was during the trial. They were fact intensive and would have required a hearing. “Even on appeal, … Continue reading
ID: State’s argument on timing of when RS arose changed on appeal, so it’s waived
The trial court invited the state to brief reasonable suspicion for the stop, but it instead relied exclusively on the community caretaking function. It argued below that reasonable suspicion developed after the stop. On appeal, it argued reasonable suspicion justified … Continue reading
NC: Calling for drug dog right away here didn’t extend time, but the sniff became reasonable by RS otherwise developing
The officer here preemptively called for a drug dog before running the DL information on the occupants. That did not measurably extend the time. After calling for the dog, the officer found out there were warrants on one, and then … Continue reading
GA: Looking at CP while sitting in a car is PC for the device and car
Defendant was seen in his car looking at child pornography on his cell phone. That gave the police probable cause to enter to seize the phone. They later got a search warrant for it. State v. Palacio-Gregorio, 2021 Ga. App. … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: A year delay in searching this cell phone was not unreasonable when def was in custody
A year delay in searching defendant’s cell phone was not unreasonable. He was a parolee, in custody, and had a significantly reduced privacy interest in the phone. United States v. Davis, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175204 (E.D.Mich. Sept. 15, 2021). … Continue reading
OH12: Second patdown in crotch area by male officer wasn’t unreasonable
A female officer patted this male defendant down, but she did not go around the crotch area. For officer safety, a male officer followed up and did. This was reasonable, and the contraband was found by plain feel. State v. … Continue reading
CA10: Order to get out of car doesn’t unreasonably extend stop
The officer’s order for defendant to get out of the car was reasonable and did not unreasonably prolong the stop. United States v. Malone, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 26136 (10th Cir. Aug. 30, 2021). “While Fisk brings his assignment of … Continue reading
CA10: Changing argument on a Carpenter remand is waiver
Defendant was the subject of a pre-Carpenter CSLI production, and his case was GVR’ed in light of Carpenter. On remand in the District Court he raised a new issue which the court finds waived. “We conclude that the district court … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Govt’s failure to raise GFE before USMJ is waiver
Government waived the good faith exception by not raising it before the USMJ. United States v. Stearns, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154919 (W.D.N.Y. Aug. 17, 2021). The trial court didn’t make sufficient findings on whether a handgun in plain view … Continue reading
OH2: Specific 4A claim not made to trial court is waived
The specific Fourth Amendment argument made on appeal wasn’t made to the trial court, so it’s waived. On the merits, officers getting defendant in to talk on basis of a ruse didn’t make it an unreasonable seizure. State v. Luther, … Continue reading
SD: Failure to put video of stop in record limits review of lack of consent claim
Failure to put the video of defendant’s stop in the record means the court can’t consider it on appeal, and it goes from the trial court’s findings. State v. Slepikas, 2021 SD 43, 2021 S.D. LEXIS 82 (July 21, 2021) … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Def’s response to a SDT showed records existed for later SW; not stale
Defendant’s receipt of and response to a subpoena for fraud records in an older fraud case established timeliness and lack of staleness when the government decided to proceed by search warrant instead. Staleness is a question of probable cause. United … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Passing reference to a 4A violation in motion to suppress doesn’t preserve it
Passing reference to a Fourth Amendment violation isn’t enough to preserve the issue. United States v. Polaco-Hance, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132937 (D.P.R. July 16, 2021). There was probable cause for the search of defendant’s car under the warrant. A … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: SW for person is not limited like a protective sweep
A search warrant for a person is not limited as a protective sweep. It was not unreasonable to look under box springs. United States v. Johnson, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132835 (W.D.Tenn. July 16, 2021). The protective sweep in the … Continue reading
NY2: Failure to object to SW papers admitted into evidence at trial was waiver
Failure to object to admission of the search warrant papers into evidence at trial was waiver. People v. Mack, 2021 NY Slip Op 04377, 2021 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4456 (2d Dept. July 14, 2021).* “The Supreme Court reversed our … Continue reading