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- D.Colo.: Large volume of emails can be seized for later narrowing search and still be particular
- UT: State used SW to get defense expert’s computer data; ordered destroyed, but case not dismissed
- E.D.Mo.: Refusal to promptly ID oneself justified handcuffing during brief investigative detention
- OH2: Dog handler’s testimony of dog certification was sufficient to show reliability
- NY Queens: SW issuing court can narrow time to execute to avoid children at home
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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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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
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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"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
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
CA6: Entering land to post a notice of civil infraction from the property was not a “search”
“The crux of the Gammarinos’ [Fourth Amendment] argument is that the Defendants entered their properties and removed their personal property without a warrant. As a result, they claim these searches and seizures are presumptively unreasonable and thus violated the Fourth … Continue reading
CA10: The district court properly held that officers climbing over a fence to get to ptf’s front door was a 4A violation, but QI applies, still
Officers came to plaintiff’s property to investigate a marijuana grow. His property was surrounded by a fence, and he didn’t respond to air horns to get his attention, so they climbed over the fence to be able to get to … Continue reading
CA8: Walkway to front door where mailbox was wasn’t protected curtilage
Defendant’s front yard wasn’t curtilage where there was a walkway to the mailbox by the door. Blood spatter was visible. The officers then went through a fence based on exigency. The observations supported a warrant. United States v. McGhee, 2025 … Continue reading
MS: Police cell phone search as extensive as prior private search was reasonable
The warrantless search of defendant’s cell phone was the same as a private search that already occurred, and it did not violate the Fourth Amendment. Knight v. State, 2025 Miss. LEXIS 51 (Feb. 20, 2025). An NOLA officer seeing an … Continue reading
CA7: No trespassing sign on driveway didn’t prevent animal control officer from walking up driveway
No trespassing sign at plaintiff’s driveway didn’t make the animal control officer’s entry onto the driveway a Fourth Amendment violation. Also, “[t]he argument that a land patent exempts Shaw’s property from the law is frivolous.” Shaw v. Hall, 2025 U.S. … Continue reading
OR: 3 am look at def’s car in driveway was unreasonable under state constitution
Officers approached defendant’s house by the driveway and came to the “back door” which was also a way into the house for ordinary visitors. The look at his car at 3 am exceeded implied consent to enter. “[A]t three o’clock … Continue reading
CA6: 4A IAC claim requires a showing petitioner would win on the merits of search claim
“And if Derringer intended to argue that counsel should have moved to suppress the cell phone videos, he did not identify any basis for challenging the validity of the search warrant that resulted in the seizure of the cell phone … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Govt’s exigency claim to enter defendant’s garage is rejected
“To the extent defendants assert that the warrantless entry was necessary to continue a purported temporary detention of Wheelock to further their investigation, that is not a recognized exigency or exception to justify a warrantless entry into a home or … Continue reading
OR: Backpack’s inventory on admission to treatment facility was reasonable
Police could inventory defendant’s backpack when he was picked up and transported to a treatment facility. Inventory was provided for by local ordinance. The same policies apply to inventory even if defendant isn’t in jail. State v. Wilcox, 335 Or … Continue reading
IA: When there’s PC and the automobile exception, inventory irrelevant
There was probable cause for search of the car under the automobile exception so the impoundment and inventory are irrelevant. State v. Baylor, 2024 Iowa App. LEXIS 740 (Oct. 16, 2024).* Defendant’s car was parked with lights on at night … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: City’s mowing unkempt yard wasn’t 4A violatoin
The city’s coming on to a sovereign citizen’s yard to mow it when he refused did not violate the Fourth Amendment. Prows v. City of Oxford, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177976 (S.D. Ohio Sep. 30, 2024).* Defendant’s motion for return … Continue reading
CO: Second entry after seeing a dead dog in def’s yard was without exigency and suppressed
The officer’s first approach to defendant’s door was a knock-and-talk, and he could see a dead dog which he checked on and confirmed. The trip to the front door was not to gather information en route. The warrantless entry coming … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Warrantless arrest in def’s doorway violated 4A
Defendant’s warrantless arrest in his doorway violated the Fourth Amendment. After objecting, defendant acceded to their demands when they pulled a Taser on him. The remedy of what to do with his statement will be addressed later. United States v. … Continue reading
Legal Aid Society: Backyard Privacy in the Age of Drones
EFF: Backyard Privacy in the Age of Drones by Hannah Zhao (“This article was originally published by The Legal Aid Society’s Decrypting a Defense Newsletter on August 5, 2024 and is reprinted here with permission.”):
CA9: Failure to raise a clearly winning 4A curtilage argument was IAC
Defense counsel was ineffective for not raising a winning Fourth Amendment curtilage argument. As to the co-defendant, however, he lacks standing, so no IAC as to him. United States v. Chong, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 20467 (9th Cir. Aug. 14, … Continue reading
MT: No REP from look in apt window from common area of apt complex; not his curtilage
Officers did not violate defendant’s reasonable expectation of privacy by looking in the window of his apartment from a common area in his apartment complex. It was not his curtilage. City of Whitefish v. Zumwalt, 2024 MT 153, 2024 Mont. … Continue reading