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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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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)
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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
SCOTUS: Lange v. California: “Under the Fourth Amendment, pursuit of a fleeing misdemeanor suspect does not always—that is, categorically—justify a warrantless entry into a home.”
Lange v. California, 141 S.Ct. 2011 (June 23, 2021). Syllabus:
CA2: DL address is “reason to believe” where def lives for entry on arrest warrant
Defendant’s DL had the address where the police entered on an arrest warrant, and it led to a plain view. The DL address was “reason to believe” it was his address. United States v. Johnson, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 18491 … Continue reading
VA: “[T]he acquisition of real-time CSLI data to locate a fleeing murder suspect in an exigent circumstance is permissible under Carpenter.”
“[T]he acquisition of real-time CSLI data to locate a fleeing murder suspect in an exigent circumstance is permissible under Carpenter.” Moreno v. Commonwealth, 2021 Va. App. LEXIS 91 (June 15, 2021). The community caretaking exception did not justify officers’ opening … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Def’s suppression motion loss precludes his § 1983 case on same issue
Plaintiff’s civil rights complaint that OnStar allegedly illegally tracked his vehicle was already decided against him in his criminal case. The issue is precluded here. Lenhart v. Savetski, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109462 (N.D. Ohio June 11, 2021). The collection … Continue reading
Reason: Gorsuch Pushes Stronger Fourth Amendment Protections
Reason: Gorsuch Pushes Stronger Fourth Amendment Protections by Damon Root (“Can a cop enter a suspect’s home without a warrant if they’re in pursuit and have probable cause to believe the suspect has committed a misdemeanor?”):
CA7: Omission of CI’s criminal history was “unfortunate” but not material for Franks
“[W]e agree with the district court that the ‘omission of information about the sources’ backgrounds, criminal histories, or motives does not change the probable cause determination.’ See also United States v. Sims, 551 F.3d 640, 645 (7th Cir. 2008) (omission … Continue reading
NY1: Cross-examination about potential suspects let go from scene of search opened door to suppressed statement
Defendant’s cross-examination about others not ultimately charged after the search opened the door to his suppressed statement. “First, defendant elicited that although the police arrested him and the other two persons who were in his apartment at the time a … Continue reading
PA: DUI with agg. assault was sufficiently exigent to dispense with SW for BAC
Defendant was accused of DUI and aggravated assault, and the officer decided that the additional complexity of investigating the assault charge made a warrantless blood draw exigent. It didn’t matter that the state charged him with the assault two months … Continue reading
OR: Lifting jail curtain to see def in jail bathroom was not violation of State Const. or 4A
Partially lifting a curtain in jail to observe defendant in the bathroom was not a violation of his reasonable expectation of privacy under the State Constitution nor the Fourth Amendment. State v. Taplin, 311 Or. App. 542, 2021 Ore. App. … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: 5 yo child wandering in apt parking lot at 2:30 am was exigency when door was open to apt
A five year old boy found wandering at 2:30 am in an apartment building parking lot was exigency for the police to further open defendant’s partially open door when the apartment was found. United States v. Shorter, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
CA7: FBI’s enlisting govt employee to take records from another’s office was unreasonable search
A government employee, like a private employee, has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her office. A co-worker at the insistence of the FBI gathered evidence from defendant’s office and violated the Fourth Amendment. But for these illegal … Continue reading
VI: Def walking into apt being searched with SW could be searched
Defendant who walked into an apartment being searched under a warrant could be searched himself, including the grocery bag he was carrying. People v. Matthias, 2021 V.I. LEXIS 23 (Apr. 30, 2021). Defendant’s backpack in the car couldn’t be searched … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Affidavit for SW doesn’t have to provide the particularity, but it can if incorporated
The search warrant here is directed at a place and it’s not required to tie a person to it, unless it aids particularity. The affidavit for the warrant does not need to be particular but the warrant itself does. The … Continue reading
N.-M.: “Health and welfare” check justification for search of off-base housing was shown in IAC claim to be subterfuge
Defense counsel was ineffective for not raising the issue that the “health and welfare” check justification for searching his off-base housing was really a subterfuge for a criminal search. United States v. McCall, 2021 CCA LEXIS 206 (N.-M. Ct. Crim. … Continue reading
WI: Burning mj in a house is exigency of evidence being destroyed by burning
The smell of burning marijuana is exigent circumstances because the contraband is being destroyed by burning. State v. B.W.R., 2021 Wisc. App. LEXIS 201 (Apr. 28, 2021) (unpublished). Under Birchfield, “An increased penalty for the warrantless blood draw refusal revocation … Continue reading
CA7: Pre-Carpenter real time CSLI tracking def on streets to locate him before he committed another robbery was not unreasonable
The fact officers had probable cause to arrest is considered in determining good faith. In addition, “To conclude, we hold that Detective Ghiringhelli did not conduct a Fourth Amendment ‘search’ by requesting the real-time CSLI of a suspect for multiple … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Exigency for entry fails; officers knew victim was not there
The emergency aid justification for a warrantless entry into defendant’s house in a domestic dispute wasn’t applicable because there no longer was an emergency. The victim was safe elsewhere and nobody was home. Also, the good faith exception wasn’t proved … Continue reading
TX: Fire Dept called for police after discovery of drugs and guns; SW based on initial observations valid, narcotics officer’s later observations stricken but leaving PC
The Fire Department responded to a kitchen fire in defendant’s apartment, and they saw drugs, paraphernalia, and firearms inside. They called the police for a safety check. The officer responding didn’t know about their seeing drugs when he first arrived. … Continue reading
CA8: Warrantless seizure of computer in fraud case was reasonable because of exigency
The warrantless seizure of defendant’s computer was justified by exigent circumstances that it contained evidence of fraud. United States v. Mays, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 9861 (8th Cir. Apr. 6, 2021). “Because we conclude that the officer’s initial question about … Continue reading