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- The Intercept: FBI Raid on WaPo Reporter’s Home Was Based on Sham Pretext
- N.D.Ga.: Slight delay in searching a cell phone of a person in custody who couldn’t possess it was reasonable
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- Cal.2d: NDO in SW to Microsoft doesn’t violate state statute or 1A
- MA: Missing juvenile in BOLO was subject to community caretaking function
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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)
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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) -
“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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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: Curtilage
E.D.Mo.: Search for shell casings in curtilage exceeded community caretaking function entry
A shotspotter alert brought the police to this house, and the police went around looking for signs of anyone that might be injured. Within 20 seconds it was apparent there wasn’t, but then they looked for spent shell casings in … Continue reading
GA: REP against dog sniff at apartment door in gated complex where management let police in
A dog sniff at defendant’s apartment door seams was unreasonable, despite it being in a common area of a gated apartment building [where the general public wasn’t allowed, but management let the police in]. State v. West, 2026 Ga. App. … Continue reading
LA: Communal parking area at a “trailer park” was not curtilage
Defendant’s car in a “trailer park” communal parking area near his place was not on his “curtilage.” The court of appeals erred in finding it was curtilage. State v. Charles, 2025 La. LEXIS 1624 (Nov. 19, 2025). “Here, the renewed … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: 16 shot ShotSpotter alert confirmed by witnesses was exigency to enter curtilage
A ShotSpotter alert of 16 gunshots from the vicinity of defendant’s home confirmed by witnesses in a car leaving the area was justification for exigent entry onto the curtilage. “Since the addition of the omitted information does not disturb the … Continue reading
LA1: Accelerant detection dog’s alert supported PC despite negative lab test
The fact the accelerant detection dog alerted supports probable cause despite later negative lab tests. State v. Hale, 2025 La. App. LEXIS 1749 (La. App. 1 Cir Sep. 19, 2025). Officers did not violate curtilage by observing shell casings in … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: Parole search waiver included curtilage of house
Plaintiff’s parole search waiver for his house includes his curtilage. Kennedy v. White Cty., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180862 (E.D. Ark. Sep. 16, 2025). Admission of a photograph of defendant’s house taken from off the property did not violate the … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Wooded area near def’s property was not his curtilage
The wooded area near defendant’s property was not his curtilage. United States v. Rodrigues, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176637 (D. Mass. Sep. 10, 2025).* A cut and paste typo and an honest and material mistake on a connection to the … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Apt building parking lot not curtilage
The apartment building’s parking lot was not part of the curtilage. United States v. Isaac, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120584 (D. Kan. June 24, 2025). Defendant was wanted on a PV warrant. A warrant task force located a place he … Continue reading
NJ: Entering curtilage to plant GPS device on car exceeded tracking warrant and was suppressed
Police had an otherwise valid warrant to install a tracking device on defendant’s vehicle but in a public place. Instead, they entered the curtilage to install it there. This warrant execution violated the Fourth Amendment and state constitution. The tracking … Continue reading
N.D.Fla.: Police going to backyard with a drug dog violated curtilage
Officers went into defendant’s backyard with a drug dog and that unreasonably invaded the curtilage. United States v. Holland, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102751 (N.D. Fla. May 30, 2025):
TX8: Motorcycle parked on driveway closer to road than house wasn’t on curtilage
Officers didn’t enter the curtilage to look at defendant’s motorcycle. It was parked on dirt strip driveway closer to the street than the house, all confirmed by bodycam. Groh v. State, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 3572 (Tex. App. – El … Continue reading
KY: Def carries burden on curtilage; he failed to show motorcycle parked near front door was on it
Defendant’s motorcycle was parked near his front door, but he fails to show that it was within the curtilage of his house. He carries that burden. Bessinger v. Commonwealth, 2025 Ky. App. LEXIS 42 (May 16, 2025):
CA4: SW affidavit not required to name an offender
A search warrant is about whether evidence would be found in the place to be searched, not whether there’s an offender. United States v. Johnson, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 10138 (4th Cir. Apr. 28, 2025). 2255 petitioner’s Franks ineffective assistance … Continue reading
VA: Arrest warrant not needed for DUI arrest in def’s driveway
Defendant wasn’t under arrest when he consented to a field sobriety test in his own driveway. Officers didn’t need an arrest warrant to arrest him there. Poulson v. Commonwealth, 2025 Va. LEXIS 17 (Apr. 10, 2025). The affidavit as a … Continue reading
MI: Nighttime entry onto curtilage was reasonable because officers were responding to a dangerous situation
Officers approached defendant’s house for a knock-and-talk at 10:43 pm. There is no implied license to enter the curtilage at that time, but here it was because officers were responding to a report of a dangerous situation, and that made … Continue reading
IN: Crossing the curtilage to get to defendant’s front door at 11:30 pm violated the Indiana Const.
Crossing the curtilage to get to defendant’s front door at 11:30 pm violated the Indiana Constitution under its Litchfield case. State v. Hendricks, 2025 Ind. App. LEXIS 71 (Mar. 12, 2025). Defendant parked in a “no parking” zone at the … Continue reading
CA8: Dog sniff at apt door was reasonable under existing precedent
A drug dog sniff at defendant’s apartment door was reasonable under well-established circuit precedent. There’s no evidence the dog’s nose went under the door. United States v. Peck, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 5710 (8th Cir. Mar. 12, 2025). Plaintiff’s condition … Continue reading