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- KY: Despite lack of nexus, SW sustained under GFE
- 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
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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)
--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: Ineffective assistance
CA9: Not clearly established that County of Riverside violation warrants suppression
It was not clearly established that a County of Riverside violation of allegedly delaying a probable cause determination to gather more evidence was subject to suppression. Even Riverside doesn’t say that it is. Thus, the district court’s determination counsel wasn’t … Continue reading
IA: 4A claim not properly made in motion for new trial; denied so it can come via post-conviction proceeding
Fourth Amendment claim made in motion for new trial is denied without prejudice to litigate it in a post-conviction proceeding. State v. Bell, 2020 Iowa App. LEXIS 521 (May 13, 2020). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not pursuing a motion … Continue reading
OH9: When trial court relies on video of stop and search, failure to include in record on appeal is waiver
The trial court relied on the video of the stop and search, but it was not included by the defense in the record on appeal. This is considered waiver. State v. Hays, 2020-Ohio-2919, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1869 (9th Dist. … Continue reading
MI Const. search and seizure provision is not coextensive with 4A
The Michigan Supreme Court sets aside part of a Court of Appeals decision that says that the Michigan Constitution’s search and seizure provision is coextensive with the Fourth Amendment because it’s not. Otherwise, it declines review of the decision. People … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Defense counsel’s failure to inform def of potential 4A claims isn’t itself an IAC claim
“Williams’ assertion that counsel failed to inform him that state law enforcement officers are not authorized to make federal arrests provides no support for a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.” Considering the merits of any search claim, defendant’s stop … Continue reading
OH2: Excessive force in stop-and-frisk was unreasonable
Use of excessive bodily force for a stop-and-frisk by lifting defendant into a wall was unreasonable where defendant did nothing to justify it. That required suppressing the stop. State v. Johnson, 2020-Ohio-2742, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1707 (2d Dist. May … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Strip search at DTF office was reasonable on PC def hid drugs in underwear and anal cavity
Officers had probable cause defendant had drugs hidden in his underwear or anal cavity. When he was taken to the DTF office, a strip search there was reasonable when there were no drugs otherwise in his possession. United States v. … Continue reading
CA10: Criminal history checks may be run in any stop under Rodriguez
Criminal history checks are reasonable under any traffic stop because they negligibly extend the stop. This court held that en banc in 2001 in a case relied upon in Rodriguez. Other circuits are in accord. United States v. Mayville, 2020 … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Def doesn’t show that his guilty plea was unknowing as a result of IAC on a 4A claim
“The movant’s unsubstantiated claim that counsel’s mistakes on a Fourth Amendment issue somehow rendered his guilty plea unknowing are insufficient to overcome a record that reflects that the plea was knowing and voluntary.” Hernandez-Rodriguez v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
OH2: 911 call not anonymous for RS purposes because number captured
A 911 call wasn’t anonymous because the number called from was captured. “‘Some factors that significantly support the reliability of an anonymous tip include: “eyewitness knowledge”; a “contemporaneous report”; the fact that an event is startling; and use of the … Continue reading
CA6: While federal law requires RS for a supervised release search, it wasn’t error for district court here to permit suspicionless searches
District court did not plainly err in imposing a suspicionless search condition separate from federal law that normally requires reasonable suspicion. United States v. Sulik, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 10450 (6th Cir. Mar. 31, 2020). “Nothing in the record suggests … Continue reading
CA11: Generic state 4A post-conviction petition with no citation of authority waived state claims
A generic state claim for post-conviction relief for ineffective assistance in counsel of a Fourth Amendment claim that cited nothing was no claim at all, and didn’t toll § 2254 limitations. “Dunn’s September 2015 motion merely asserted that her convictions … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: IAC shown for failure to move to suppress arrest in own home
Defendant satisfied his burden of showing ineffective assistance of counsel for defense counsel’s failure to file a motion to suppress that the entry into the house violated the Fourth Amendment and this tainted defendant’s consent. There is no strategic reason … Continue reading
OH9: IAC claim defendant pled guilty because of IAC in suppression hearing doesn’t show causal connection
“Mr. Bramos does not allege that his counsel’s statements to the trial court during the suppression hearing had any bearing on his decision to plead no contest more than two weeks later. We, therefore, conclude that Mr. Bramos has failed … Continue reading
CA5: Statute of limitations for malicious prosecution starts at acquittal
“As should be apparent, Winfrey controls. Since Fusilier is challenging ‘an unlawful [detention] pursuant to a warrant’ that the defendants caused to be issued because of ‘misstatements,’ Fusilier’s claim best fits with a malicious prosecution analogy. Winfrey, 901 F.3d at … Continue reading
N.D.Fla.: Unsupported habeas claim that SWs were forged inadequate
“Watson’s unsubstantiated ‘belief’ that the warrants were forged does not raise the specter of a constitutional violation, and she offers nothing else in support of this claim. Furthermore, her claim in Ground Three that counsel was constitutionally ineffective because he … Continue reading
CA11: Failure to join in the codef’s motion to suppress is waiver
Failure to join in the codefendant’s motion to suppress is waiver. United States v. Russa, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 9288 (11th Cir. Mar. 25, 2020). In a 2254 COA: “Assuming that counsel was deficient in failing to raise the plain-view … Continue reading
D.Md.: Matters not told to def counsel about search can’t form basis of IAC claim
Defendant asserts a basis for suppression of his search that apparently was never communicated to counsel during the representation. Defense counsel wasn’t deficient. Hill v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48664 (D. Md. Mar. 20, 2020). Plaintiff was shot … Continue reading
CA9: Facial challenge to housing inspection ordinance fails because there is an administrative warrant provision
Plaintiffs’ facial challenge to Los Angeles’ housing inspection ordinance fails because it isn’t unconstitutional in all applications. An administrative warrant provision is provided for. Garris v. City of Los Angeles, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 8361 (9th Cir. Mar. 17, 2020). … Continue reading
CA11: Prowler call at 1:30 am and def being only person out dressed all in black with improbable story was RS
The officer responded to a 911 call of a prowler in a neighborhood at 1:30 am. The only person out was defendant, dressed all in black which the officer found regularly happened in prowler calls. When confronted, defendant said he … Continue reading