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- CA8: Def’s 20 prior arrests helped show voluntariness of consent
- TX1: No standing to challenge seizure of ketamine off co-def, but PC was lacking for his own arrest
- KS: 13 days pole camera surveillance violated no REP
- E.D.Va.: WaPo reporter’s SW was overbroad and 1A protected
- CAAF: GFE applies to cell phone’s geolocation data because of substantial basis for the search authorization
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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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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)
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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: Reasonable expectation of privacy
CA2: No REP shown in porch shared with neighbor
Defendant shared a porch with his neighbor and made no effort to show a reasonable expectation of privacy in it. United States v. Lewis, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 6689 (2d Cir. Mar. 21, 2023).* The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in … Continue reading
E.D.La.: 4A and Art. III standing are distinct questions
Just because there’s no Fourth Amendment “standing” in bank records, that doesn’t mean that there’s no Article III standing to challenge interference with privacy in bank records. Hawkins v. Sanders, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45000 (E.D. La. Mar. 16, 2023):
S.D.Cal.: Police declining to search on wife’s consent could follow her to spot and watch her do it without it being govt action
Under the two-part test, the Court finds that Ms. Valenzuela was not functioning as a government instrument at the time of her [*17] search. As to the first prong, the Chula Vista officers clearly “knew of” Ms. Valenzuela’s actions because … Continue reading
MA: Crack pipe seen in plain view of passenger compartment justifies search of whole car
“The question presented by this appeal is whether a State trooper’s plain view observation of a used crack pipe in a motor vehicle provides probable cause for a warrantless search of the entire vehicle for contraband drugs. Concluding that it … Continue reading
What we think of our reasonable expectation of privacy in cell phones
U.Chi. School of Law: The Myth of Fourth Amendment Circularity by Matthew B. Kugler & Lior Jacob Strahilevitz:
WI: REP in apt building’s storage room def shared with another that she put the lock on
Defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in an apartment’s basement storage room that was shared with another but which defendant put a padlock on. State v. Eder, 2023 Wisc. App. LEXIS 207 (Feb. 28, 2023). There was probable cause … Continue reading
D.Neb.: DTF officer’s moving luggage out of an interstate bus luggage hold wasn’t an unreasonable interference with possessory interest
Defendant was riding on an interstate bus, and at the stop at Omaha, a DTF officer pulled defendant’s bag out of the luggage hold to see who would claim it. This interference with the luggage was minimal and did not … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Govt’s mere allegation def has possessory interest in package doesn’t give him standing; he still has to show it
Defendant can’t rely on the government’s representation they believe he has a possessory interest in a parcel. He has to show it, and here he did not. United States v. Franco, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18256 (D. Conn. Feb. 3, … Continue reading
CA1: No REP in guns hidden in house def wasn’t welcome at when he returned after being kicked out
Defendant stayed in a house with a domestic partner and her son until he was kicked out. He returned to assault her and hide guns there. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the premises. United States v. John, … Continue reading
USA Today: A camera mounted on a light pole took video of police beating Tyre Nichols. What to know about ‘SkyCop.’
USA Today: A camera mounted on a light pole took video of police beating Tyre Nichols. What to know about ‘SkyCop.’ by Claire Thornton:
E.D.Cal.: Def had standing in car he was driving with permission of owner
As the driver of the car and the person with lawful possession, defendant had standing to challenge the search of the car he didn’t own. The GPS warrant for it was based on probable cause, and the warrant for firearms … Continue reading
D.Mass.: No REP in video surveillance in an apartment building hallway that covered def’s door
“Defendants may have held a subjective expectation that activity in and around the doorway of the apartment would remain private but such an expectation was not objectively reasonable because their activity took place in a common area exposed to the … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: No REP in CP; AOL did a private search sending to NCMEC
AOL reported potential child porn to NCMEC, and that was within its terms of service. That was a private search. Moreover, “[t]his Court concludes that society has decided the interest in ‘privately’ possessing child pornography is illegitimate. Opening the image … Continue reading
NY2: SW papers provided to GJ aren’t discoverable because of GJ secrecy
Defendant sought search warrant materials presented to the grand jury. Denied because of grand jury secrecy. Sculti v. Finley, 2022 NY Slip Op 06950, 2022 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6820 (2d Dept. Dec. 7, 2022). Defendant had no standing in … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Parole search can occur when parolee not home
Defendant was on state parole living with his girlfriend, also a defendant. They were out and her mother was their babysitter in the home. Parole came by for a compliance check. The mother let them in. First, the search was … Continue reading
MS: Using ladder to look over wall in rented storage unit wasn’t a “search” and did not violate any REP
Officers used a ladder to look over a ceilingless wall in a storage building into defendant’s leased unit. The observation led to a search warrant. Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy from that look because anyone there could do … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Def did not abandon backpack by hiding it nearby in bushes; he retained control
Defendant was at a McDonald’s with friends outside a car. When he saw the police, he put his backpack in the bushes to hide it while remaining nearby. He also went back to it to push it deeper into the … Continue reading
IL: No REP in bloody clothes in trauma room at hospital
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a trauma room he was in about 15 minutes before the police arrived. His bloody clothes were in plain view. People v. Turner, 2022 IL App (5th) 190329, 2022 Ill. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Md.: Using def’s key fob to find his car did not violate a REP
Using defendant’s key fob on the key removed from him in a search incident did not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy and was reasonable. United States v. Gardner, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 196575 (D. Md. Oct. 27, 2022):
CA9: Chalking tires not a 4A violation
Disagreeing with the Sixth Circuit, the Ninth holds that chalking tires does not violate the Fourth Amendment. It was going on for nearly a century before anyone challenged it. Verdun v. City of San Diego, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 29803 … Continue reading