November 2025 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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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
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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)
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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
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] -
“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, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Consent
D.Colo.: Landowners consented to entries by BLM when leasing to oil and gas companies
The Court affirms the “Interior Board of Land Appeals’ finding that the Federal Oil and Gas Management Act authorizes Bureau of Land Management representatives to conduct warrantless, unannounced inspections of oil wells on Plaintiffs’ fee lands was not arbitrary, capricious, … Continue reading →
D.N.M.: A habeas claim the state court was wrong on the 4A issue isn’t grounds for relief
Petitioner’s argument “the state courts failed to apply a colorable application of the correct Fourth Amendment constitutional standards,” a “bold claim,” doesn’t overcome the Stone v. Powell bar. He did in fact litigate the Fourth Amendment claim in the state … Continue reading →
CA8: After exigency for entry abated, police had consent from def’s wife to remain on premises
Exigency supported the police entry into defendant’s home because of concern for safety of the children and a domestic dispute. After the entry and the abatement of the exigency, defendant’s wife consented to the officers staying in the house. United … Continue reading →
D.Neb.: Consent derived from smartphone app Spanish translation was voluntary on totality
Defendant was riding a Greyhound bus from Denver to Indianapolis, and it had a bus change in Omaha. Luggage was pulled off the bus, and an interdiction officer noticed the new bag with defendant’s name on it. He also detected … Continue reading →
IA: Inventory was still valid despite its mixed motive to search
Defendant refused to consent to a search so the officers made the choice to impound his car. It was a reasonable choice, although with a mixed motive to search and not just inventory. Nevertheless, it’s valid. State v. Gray, 2017 … Continue reading →
W.D.N.C.: Timely motion to suppress was enough to have to continue trial date over def’s objection
Defendant filed a motion to suppress but didn’t want the trial delayed. Based on the time for the government to respond and the USMJ to prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial would have to be continued … Continue reading →
D.N.H.: Long driveway was not curtilage; that was marked by the gate nearer the house
Defendant had a long driveway, and officers drove up the driveway. It was not part of the curtilage. A gate at the end, however, did mark the curtilage. After that, consent to enter was granted. United States v. Smith, 2017 … Continue reading →
OH2: Two on nonconsensual encounters: one in an ER, one on def’s own property
The officer’s encounter with defendant in the ER initially asking if he had “any drugs or weapons” was not consensual. “The trial court concluded that Officer West’s encounter was not a consensual encounter. The trial court emphasized that West approached … Continue reading →
W.D.Mo.: Knock-and-announce didn’t apply to an open door; plain view reasonable, but wife’s consent was vitiated by threat of jail if she didn’t sign form
Officers came to defendant’s house both on a call about the welfare of children living there and with a pre-existing warrant for defendant’s arrest. They encountered one of the children outside taking trash to the street and determined that defendant … Continue reading →
CA6: Def had a gun pointed at him during arrest, but it was put away after he was handcuffed; consent found on totality
“The district court did not clearly err in determining that Pavon’s consent to the search of his vehicle was voluntary and without coercion. Officer Josh Walters testified that he twice asked for and received consent from Pavon to search the … Continue reading →
S.D.Ill.: Off-duty officer working store security validly seized weapon
A local police officer was working off-duty security at a grocery store on the night shift. He’d seen defendant in there many times in the previous four years in the store, and defendant was usually under the influence. Plus, the … Continue reading →
SD: Withdrawal of consent doesn’t get the incriminating stuff back
The trial court didn’t err in finding that defendant consented to search of his cell phone and DNA at the hospital after a murder. He was strenuously trying to show the police that he wasn’t involved and was volunteering consent. … Continue reading →
NY3: Emptying purse on seat and saying ‘you can check my car, you can check me’ was consent
In a traffic stop, the officer saw credit cards with a male name but a female operating the car. “Upon asking the owner about the person named on the cards, the owner denied knowing that person or being the owner … Continue reading →
S.D.Ill.: Scope and meaning of consent form determined by objective reasonableness
It was objectively reasonable for officers to believe that the consent form defendant signed applied to the apartment searched. There were two buildings on the property, and he was in an apartment with a different mailing address. The consent form … Continue reading →
W.D.La.: Parole search waiver applies to the car def borrowed since he had standing in it
Defendant’s parole search condition extended to a car he borrowed. After all, he had sufficient connection to the car to have standing to challenge a search. United States v. Meaux, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189415 (W.D. La. Oct. 27, 2017), … Continue reading →
MT: Element of offense that other state’s offense be similar to MT’s doesn’t have to be proved for PC
The affidavit for a telephonic search warrant included that defendant had been convicted of DUI under another state’s law didn’t have to also meet the statutory requirement that the other state’s offense was “similar” to Montana’s. That was an issue … Continue reading →
OH3: Witnessing man walk up to passenger window and reach inside then leave seen from 100 yds away was speculation of a hand-to-hand drug transaction; no RS
The officer was located one hundred yards away from defendant’s car, and he saw a pedestrian walk up to the car, reach inside, turn around, and walk away. The officer could not determine whether an exchange had occurred between the … Continue reading →
NC: Consent sought while officer holding DL wasn’t voluntary because here it was an unlawful seizure
“Defendant’s main argument appears to be that when Officer Sletten failed to return defendant’s identification after finding no outstanding warrants and after the initial reason for the detention was satisfied, he instead requested defendant’s consent to search, the seizure was … Continue reading →
PA: Screams that drowned out officer’s knocking led to exigent entry
“In this case, exigent circumstances justified the officers’ warrantless entry into Appellant’s house. The evidence adduced during the suppression hearing demonstrates that on the evening in question, police officers received reports of someone screaming, someone bleeding, and someone with a … Continue reading →
D.Neb.: Consent didn’t extend to removing pickup’s bedliner, but officer had PC by then
The officer had probable cause for this traffic stop, and defendant was found to have consented to a search of his pickup truck. He observed it happening and never objected. [I hate that rationale.] By the time the bedliner was … Continue reading →