June 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
- CA6: CI’s lie to get into def’s house to video him making a drug deal with the CI didn’t violate 4A
- TN: Def lived in a van left wide open in a public area, but it didn’t belong to him, so no REP as to interior
- VI: Despite ubiquity of cell phones, nexus has to be shown to alleged crime
- N.D.Ga.: PIT maneuver here was not excessive force
- LA4: Acting like carrying a gun and wearing a ski mask in New Orleans in June was RS
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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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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)
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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: Reasonable expectation of privacy
WaPo: New role for District police body cameras
Washington Post: New role for District police body cameras by Keith Alexander: When D.C. police began outfitting some officers’ shirts and glasses with miniature cameras in the fall, the objectives were obvious: to protect residents from overly zealous officers during … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Return of property denied; although this case dismissed, codefendant’s case still alive
Return of property denied despite the fact defendant’s case was dismissed. Defendant’s wife was his codefendant, and she was convicted, but she’s litigating a 2255, so the evidence may still be needed by the government. United States v. Neighbors, 2015 … Continue reading
NPR: Police Departments Issuing Body Cameras Discover Drawbacks
NPR: Police Departments Issuing Body Cameras Discover Drawbacks by Martin Kaste: Wearable video cameras are fast becoming standard-issue gear for American police. The cameras promise a technological answer to complaints about racial bias and excessive force. But in fact, the … Continue reading
OH12: LEO use of the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System does not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy
Law enforcement use of the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System does not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy or the doctor-patient privilege. Here, a police officer was investigated for doctor shopping to obtain schedule III and IV drugs from multiple … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Hospital owners and doctors had no standing in its bank or patient records
The operator of a small hospital corporation with at most 25 employees had no standing in the bank records of the corporation. Because they might have standing in their own offices doesn’t translate into standing over bank records. As to … Continue reading
CA7: No reasonable expectation of privacy in a conversation in the back of a police car
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a conversation in the back of a police car. Just because the defendant was quiet when the officer was around doesn’t make it objectively reasonable. Williams and the squadrol (paddy wagon) distinguished. … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy: Los Angeles v. Patel and the constitutional structure of judicial review
WaPo: Volokh Conspiracy: Los Angeles v. Patel and the constitutional structure of judicial review by Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz: On March 3, at 10 a.m., the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Los Angeles v. Patel, a fascinating case about the … Continue reading
D.Vt.: Def had no REP by giving a load of MJ to a driver to take to him in another state
Defendant packed marijuana in a trailer and entrusted it to a driver to take it to him in Vermont. The trailer was stopped in Illinois, subjected to a dog sniff, and the marijuana was found. The driver agreed to continue … Continue reading
PA decision that CI’s recording inside a house required a warrant affirmed by equally divided court
In 2013, Pennsylvania Superior Court held that the state constitution prohibits warrantless taping inside a suspect’s home with a video camera planted on an informant. Commonwealth v. Dunnavant, 2013 PA Super 38, 63 A.3d 1252 (2013) (posted here). That decision … Continue reading
No REP in peer-to-peer file sharing. Yes, that issue is still raised
Defendant’s computer was on the Gnutella peer-to-peer network. The police went in and found 1571 files for sharing and did a software driven search and found child porn on some of them. A week later they went back and found … Continue reading
LA3: Invited in CI videoing drug transaction is not Fourth Amendment violation
There is no constitutional impediment to a wired CI coming into the defendant’s house to video record a drug transaction. He was invited in. State v. Montgomery, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2974 (La. App. 3 Cir. December 17, 2014). The … Continue reading
MO holds overstaying hotel rental period waiver of REP
Defendant paid for a room at a hotel through 11/7. On 11/8 he was still there and hadn’t paid. Hotel security went to the room, unlocked it, and the inside latch was locked. The door opened only two inches. Defendant … Continue reading
WaPo: Volokh: Two district courts adopt the mosaic theory of the Fourth Amendment
WaPo: Volokh: Two district courts adopt the mosaic theory of the Fourth Amendment by Orin Kerr: Regular readers will recall the mosaic theory of the Fourth Amendment introduced by the DC Circuit in United States v. Maynard, by which law … Continue reading
D.N.J.: No REP in a burner phone def didn’t claim he used and wasn’t subscribed to anybody
This defendant has no reasonable expectation of privacy in somebody else’s cell phone or the records of its use. He never used it or claimed any interest in it. He also lacks any standing in an unsubscribed burner phone. The … Continue reading
NPR: NOLA Police Hope Body Cameras Provide Important Evidence
NPR: NOLA Police Hope Body Cameras Provide Important Evidence: Police officers in New Orleans started wearing cameras this spring. Independent police monitor Susan Hutson tells NPR’s Scott Simon how the NOPD’s camera implementation is going.
W.D.N.Y.: SW for dumpsters here didn’t violate “business curtilage” nor a REP
A search warrant was issued for dumpsters on a “large commercial property” for evidence of asbestos dumping in violation of EPA law. Accepting that there might be a “business curtilage,” the court finds this search warrant didn’t violate any reasonable … Continue reading
The Atlantic: Seen It All Before: 10 Predictions About Police Body Cameras
The Atlantic: Seen It All Before: 10 Predictions About Police Body Cameras by Robinson Meyer: Twenty years ago, law enforcement and activists teamed up to support another video surveillance technology: in-car dash cams.
AK: The exclusionary rule does not apply in DL suspension proceedings, except where there is conduct shocking to the conscience
The exclusionary rule does not apply in drivers license suspension proceedings, except where there is conduct shocking to the conscience. Here, it’s not. Garibay v. State, Dept. of Administration, Division of Motor Vehicles, 2014 Alas. LEXIS 222 (November 28, 2014). … Continue reading