Archives
-
Recent Posts
- D.Utah: Minor detours to writing up a traffic ticket didn’t unreasonably extend this stop; the dog was quickly on its way
- 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
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
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)
-
“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
CA2: Eyewitness report and identification of ptf was probable cause for arrest
Eyewitness report and identification was probable cause for arrest, so summary judgment was proper for the officer. Tortora v. City of New York, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 8135 (2d Cir. Mar. 12, 2020).* The court credits the officers’ testimony that … Continue reading
NE: No IAC for not objecting to authentication of cell phone records obtained by SW
It was speculation that if the defense had objected to authentication of cell phone records obtained by search warrant that the objection would have been sustained. No IAC on this ground. State v. Sierra, 305 Neb. 249 (Mar. 13, 2020). … Continue reading
D.Nev.: No motions through six continuances and past motions deadline all untimely
After six continuances in 18 months or so, the defendants’ motion to suppress and other motions filed on the eve of trial are denied as untimely. United States v. Phillips, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42782 (D. Nev. Mar. 11, 2020). … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Govt couldn’t rely on Strieff where there was no RS to begin with
The government’s motion to reconsider is denied. It can’t justify the stop under Strieff because “[a]t the time the officer activated his lights and ordered Mullins to approach, he not only lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct a Terry stop, he … Continue reading
E.D.La.: Despite apparent validity of motion to suppress never pursued, defense counsel kept evidence out of plea colloquy, so no IAC because of strategy call
Defense counsel didn’t file a motion to suppress evidence because defendant’s stop likely was without reasonable suspicion, and a motion to suppress might well have been granted. However, there was a legitimate strategic reason for not moving to suppress which … Continue reading
CA6: Shooting a teenager who pulled a toy gun on an officer for 2 seconds still has QI
The officer here shot a teenage boy who had a toy gun on him that looked real. He reached for it and dropped it, but reaching for it and pulling it out, even for two seconds before dropping it, was … Continue reading
GA: SW for “electronic data” includes photos on a cell phone
Defendant claimed to be staying in a vacant apartment with the permission of a friend (who was not the landlord). There was probable cause to arrest him for theft of services (not to mention trespass). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: An open container in a car is probable cause under the automobile exception to search for other open containers
An open container in a car is probable cause under the automobile exception to search for other open containers. In addition: “Here, Patrolmen Link and McClamroch had received information that a retaliatory shooting could occur near the location they stopped … Continue reading
TX8: Def has no standing to complain of writ of attachment on a witness
“[W]e conclude that Fernandez made no showing at trial of an invasion of his own rights to establish he had standing to complain of the State’s use of the writ of attachment to secure the attendance for trial of complaining … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Tracking warrant issue date was a typo; whether state law was complied with doesn’t matter in federal court
The tracking warrant issue date was mistaken. The court finds it was the latter of two dates, and the tracking occurred for only five days, within the requirements of Rule 41(e)(2)(C). Whether the tracking warrant complied with state law is … Continue reading
CA6: FRCP 60(b) can’t be used to backdoor a successor habeas
Habeas petitioner’s attempt to use Rule 60(b) to attack the rejection of a Fourth Amendment claim was a backdoor successor habeas that doesn’t satisfy grounds for one. In re Henderson, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 4856 (6th Cir. Feb. 14, 2020)*:
E.D.Tenn.: Collective knowledge doesn’t require the stopping officer even know about it
“‘[W]e impute collective knowledge among multiple law enforcement agencies, even when the evidence demonstrates that the responding officer was wholly unaware’ of the specific relevant facts. (Doc. 194, at 24 (quoting United States v. Lyons, 687 F.3d 754, 766 (6th … Continue reading
OH10: Judge who issued SW wasn’t barred from handling trial
The judge who signed the wiretap warrants in this case was not barred from conducting the trial. State v. Pippins, 2020-Ohio-503, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 467 (10th Dist. Feb. 13, 2020). Second successive 2255 habeas petition is denied, including his … Continue reading
CA11: CoA granted to pursue 4A IAC claim
2255 appellant gets a CoA to appeal an ineffective assistance of counsel that defense counsel did not pursue a valid motion to suppress. (A prima facie case was apparently made.) Spriggs v. United States, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 4162 (11th … Continue reading
NE: Failure to show any prejudice in 4A IAC claim doomed post-conviction case
Defense counsel at trial didn’t object to a search. Appellate counsel attempted to argue it but it was waived. Post-conviction counsel doesn’t even attempt to show prejudice from the failure of trial counsel. Affirmed. State v. Assad, 304 Neb. 979 … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: Lawyer not ineffective for not telling co-def’s counsel of a potential 4A claim
A lawyer can’t be ineffective for not raising a Fourth Amendment claim where there was no standing. In addition, he can’t be ineffective for not telling the lawyer for the person with standing about a search issue. It wouldn’t even … Continue reading
OH8: No IAC for not arguing prior authority should be overruled
Appellate counsel wasn’t ineffective for not arguing that a prior decision should be overruled when it would not likely be. State v. Newton, 2020-Ohio-376, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 340 (8th Dist. Jan. 30, 2020).* Defendant’s claims of deficient performance were … Continue reading
WY: Plain error does not apply to unargued points in motion to suppress; however, IAC shown on lack of RS to extend stop
Plain error does not apply to any search issue not preserved below. In an IAC claim, defendant showed, even with this limited record, the likelihood that he could have prevailed in a motion to suppress for lack of reasonable suspicion … Continue reading