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- CO: DNA could be seized from trash
- CA8: Nebraska statute allowing SWs to cross state lines doesn’t violate 4A
- WA: Sweat patch as condition of release violated state constitution’s privacy provision
- E.D.Mich.: Michigan liquor control administrative searches here don’t comply with Burger/Patel
- Reason: Border Agents Searched His Phone 5 Times Without a Warrant. He’s Asking the Supreme Court To Put a Stop to It.
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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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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)
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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: Ineffective assistance
CA8: Breaking a cell phone to avoid its search and seizure justified obstruction enhancement under USSG § 3C1.1
Defendant attempting to thwart a search of cell phones in his car tried to break one such that it had to be forensically reviewed to get information off of it. He wasn’t under arrest. Still, his actions qualified for a … Continue reading
DE: Def counsel’s failure to challenge PC and particularity in cell phone search warrants post-conviction relief
Defendant sufficiently stated grounds for ineffective assistance of counsel from defense counsel’s failure to challenge the search warrant for lack of probable cause and particularity. “Postconviction relief due to ineffectiveness of counsel must be granted in circumstances where the Court … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: State admin. health and safety SW against private ICE jail not enjoined
The State of Washington got an administrative search warrant for a workplace inspection of a private jail operating for immigration. The jail sought federal removal and an injunction which is denied. Washington state law requires these workplace inspections, and GEO’s … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Questions about drugs without RS unreasonably extended stop
The officer’s questions about drugs during the mission of a routine traffic stop unreasonably extended the stop, and the dog sniff is suppressed. United States v. Chavez, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110229 (N.D. Ga. June 3, 2024). Defendant rented an … Continue reading
CA7: Detention of a package for a day to get SW was reasonable
Detention of a package for a day to get a search warrant was a reasonable time. United States v. Black, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 14944 (7th Cir. June 20, 2024). “‘The Constitution does not guarantee that only the guilty will … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Failure to challenge lack of announcement in federal court was futile and not ineffective assistance
“First, Mr. Smith cannot establish prejudice from his attorney failing to raise the alleged violation of the knock-and-announce requirement as ‘the exclusionary rule does not apply to evidence discovered in the ensuing search.’ United States v. Acosta, 502 F.3d 54, … Continue reading
WI: Community caretaking stop couldn’t be expanded without RS
Where defendant was stopped under the community caretaking function, expanding the stop without further justification was unreasonable. Here, it was because the officer thought defendant may have been driving while sleepy, but the stop was extended. State v. Wiskowski, 2024 … Continue reading
OH2: Home safe could be searched under probation search waiver
The probation search of defendant’s home safe was reasonable under Knights, Griffin, and state law. State v. Apple, 2024-Ohio-2286, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 2166 (2d Dist. June 14, 2024). There was reasonable suspicion to stop defendant in a car, and … Continue reading
CA6: No REP from ATF getting access to def’s Instagram posts with false name
Defendant is a felon who posted to Instagram pictures of him firing guns. The ATF got access to his account, and he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it, even where the ATF agent used a fake name to … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: “Furtive movements can support reasonable suspicion that an individual is armed, justifying a frisk.”
“Furtive movements can support reasonable suspicion that an individual is armed, justifying a frisk. Moorefield, 111 F.3d at 14. An officer ‘need not be absolutely certain’ that movements are an attempt to ‘hide narcotics or a firearm’ for ‘the issue … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: GFE of law at the time of the search meant no IAC
“Counsel did not perform deficiently when they raised the Fourth Amendment argument [under applicable law at the time], even though this Court and the Seventh Circuit found that the good faith applied.” Castro-Aguirre v. United States, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
GA: Merely having a traffic accident doesn’t justify SW for car for cause
Probable cause didn’t exist for a warrant to search defendant’s car after a traffic accident for the cause of the accident. “Here, given the circumstances as they existed when the search warrant was issued, we find that the magistrate did … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Drug dog touching car door handle with nose isn’t unreasonable search
The drug dog touching the vehicle door handle with its nose was not an unreasonable search. United States v. Green, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88401 (D. Kan. May 16, 2024). Defendant’s 2255 wasn’t timely. “Even if Williams’s motion were timely, … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Smell of MJ still PC in a California National Park even though not under state law
The smell of marijuana from a car is no longer probable cause under California law, but it is still in a national park. United States v. Tolmosoff, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83134 (E.D. Cal. May 7, 2024). Defendant wasn’t seized … Continue reading
WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
The state got defendant to lick an envelope and hand it over as part of a ruse. His DNA matched to a cold case. That was not an unreasonable search. State v. Vannieuwenhoven, 2024 Wisc. App. LEXIS 349 (Apr. 30, … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Motion to suppress was near denial of standing by disavowing relationship with premises
The affidavit showed a substantial basis for concluding that drug evidence would be found in the search of the apartment. [The motion to suppress sought to distance defendant from the place. Came close to being a denial of standing, but … Continue reading
CA9: Asking detainee about parole status is reasonable
Asking a detainee about his parole status reasonably relates to officer safety and imposes a negligible burden on the detainee. United States v. Ramirez, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 9388 (9th Cir. Apr. 18, 2024). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not … Continue reading
CA7: Hotel room vacated by tenant could be searched by hotel management
A hotel room search by the hotel manager after defendant’s tenancy expired was reasonable as a private search and under state law. He was also on parole, but the district court didn’t even mention that. United States v. Gay, 2024 … Continue reading
CA7: No IAC in failure to more aggressively pursue Franks challenge
Defense counsel acted reasonably in how he pursued defendant’s suppression motion founded on Franks in not arguing more stringently for bad faith. Here, defendant was charged in state court with child pornography. His motion to suppress the search was granted. … Continue reading