September 2026 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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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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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)
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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: Emergency / exigency
CA5: Ptf’s forced drug test wasn’t justified by exigent circumstances
Plaintiff’s claim of being forced to do a drug test but not for protection of the children she cared for stated a claim and survived summary judgment. Knighton v. Benton Cty., 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 23741 (5th Cir. Aug. 6, … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Package covered by anticipatory warrant was moved to another house, and exigency permitted warrantless entry to seize
In this anticipatory warrant case, the package was delivered to the target residence but then moved to another residence. That created exigent circumstances for entry without a warrant. Officers also did a protective sweep and retreated to get a search … Continue reading
NY1: 911 call about shooting in apartment building led officers to def’s apartment and exigency justified entry
“The record supports the court’s conclusion that the warrantless entry into defendant’s apartment was justified under the emergency doctrine …. The officers received a 911 call reporting that someone was shot in the building; found a bullet on the floor … Continue reading
MT: Exigency is found in the totality of circumstances
In a domestic dispute, officers had exigent circumstances to enter on the totality of circumstances. Defendant challenged them one-by-one, but the totality applies. State v. Friscia, 2026 MT 158 (July 21, 2026). It was not reasonably subject to dispute that … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Obtaining def’s juvenile records by subpoena is not a “search”; no REP
The government’s subpoena for defendant’s juvenile case records is granted. The government can show relevance and admissibility at trial. Defendant focuses on his Fourth Amendment claim which is rejected. No case says there is a reasonable expectation of privacy against … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Possibility of co-conspirators in mass murder justified emergency disclosure request to Apple, Verizon, and Facebook
In the Buffalo Tops Grocery mass shooting, the emergency disclosure request to Apple, Facebook, and Verizon was based on the possibility there were coconspirators. Even though defendant’s manifesto said he was acting alone, investigators didn’t have to take that at … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Flight out a window is exigency for police to enter
Defendant was wanted for a shooting incident in Flatbush, Brooklyn caught on video. When they came to where they suspected he was, he attempted to flee out a window. That gave exigency to enter. United States v. Richard, 2026 U.S. … Continue reading
DE: Warrantless entry in DUI case unreasonable
Warrantless entry to detain a DUI suspect was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Claiming exigency isn’t enough. State v. Beasley, 2026 Del. C.P. LEXIS 8 (Del. C.P. June 16, 2026). This defendant has no reasonable expectation of privacy in someone … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Missing 14 yo cell phone pinging at def’s house was exigency for entry to find her
There was exigency for entry into defendant’s home when a missing autistic 14 year old’s cell phone was pinging at defendant’s address and there was no answer to the phone. Officers don’t have to wait for the exigency to get … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Extending stop to run ALPR information on car was with RS
Here, the officer in a traffic stop wanted to run defendant’s LPN through ALPRs to determine whether the travel was as stated. There was reasonable suspicion to continue the stop 15 minutes for that. United States v. Moore, 2026 U.S. … Continue reading
NY1: Gunshot through floor from apartment above was exigency
Exigency justified entry into defendant’s apartment. The tenant below called 911 to report a shooting down through his ceiling and gunshots above. People v. Santiago, 2026 NY Slip Op 03398 (1st Dept. June 2, 2026). “Ms. Sandoval next asserts that … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Emergency disclosure requests in Buffalo Tops grocery shooting were valid
The emergency disclosure requests (EDRs) for information about the 2022 allegedly racially motivated Tops grocery store shooting in Buffalo were valid. Officers were looking for potential co-conspirators. United States v. Gendron, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109541 (W.D.N.Y. May 18, 2026). … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: PO not needed for a parole search
Defendant’s claim of “reverse stalking horse” parole search because the PO wasn’t present fails. There was reasonable suspicion for the search. United States v. Rose, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103581 (E.D. Tenn. May 11, 2026). The government gets the credibility … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Def’s attempt to escape from a warrantless arrest at the door was exigency
Officers came without a warrant to arrest defendant where he was spending the night, and he tried to escape. That was exigency. United States v. Richard, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99358 (E.D.N.Y. May 5, 2026). Defendant’s presence in someone else’s … Continue reading
MD: Hot pursuit can be days later, here exigent CSLI to find alleged murderer on the run
Police had court ordered exigent CSLI from that and a cell site simulator once he was identified as the shooter in a murder 13 days earlier. He was on the run into North Carolina and was eluding capture. This amounted … Continue reading
Two on suicide calls as exigency
Defendant’s houseguest called the local suicide hotline, and a patrol officer came by the house, and the guest let him in. The officer smelled marijuana, but didn’t act on it right away because of the suicide call. The entry was … Continue reading
CA9: Boat tied to a dock is a vehicle for automobile exception even if someone lives on it
A boat tied to a dock is subject to the vehicle exception even if somebody lives on it. United States v. Jones, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 11866 (9th Cir. Apr. 24, 2026). Officers don’t have to piecemeal the exigency for … Continue reading
NH: Exigency didn’t exist for cell phone pings
Officers got a warrant for a cell site simulator to look for defendant’s phone fearing he was leaving the country by air from JFK to Europe to evade arrest, but they didn’t use it. Also, the flight he was scheduled … Continue reading
Cal.2: Officers didn’t need to periodically reassess exigency
Exigency here did not need to be periodically reassessed. “Once inside, police were not required to interrupt their efforts to seek a warrant. Officers on the scene must be able to devote their full attention to the threat they face. … Continue reading