Archives
-
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
-
-
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: Reasonable suspicion
MA: Two detectives joining into a traffic stop didn’t make it unreasonable or extend it
The stop was for a traffic offense, and two detectives stopped to participate. Their questions about smelling marijuana didn’t unreasonably extend the stop. Commonwealth v. Buckley, 2018 Mass. LEXIS 87 (Feb. 14, 2018):
C.D.Cal.: Strong air freshener isn’t RS to extend a stop
“The Domestic Highway Enforcement Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is a special criminal investigation team employed to patrol Los Angeles County highways in search of criminal activity carried on in vehicles traveling on those highways. The team’s purpose … Continue reading
DE: Def’s crossing the unmarked center of a highway for a couple of seconds wasn’t RS
“Here, Trooper Freeman testified that ‘the only basis for the stop’ was that Defendant veered into the left lane on a roadway that did not have solid lines. Speed was not a factor. Absent any testimony or video evidence concerning … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Exclusionary rule wouldn’t apply to USCG’s obtaining medical records of merchant mariners (dicta)
Plaintiff sued the Coast Guard because it subpoenaed his medical records for the merchant marine, something completely within its statutory and regulatory authority. The Coast Guard 40 years ago determined that the exclusionary rule wouldn’t be applied to medical records … Continue reading
NY4: Pinging cell phone was harmless error even if a warrant was required
The pinging of defendant’s cell phone to find him was without a warrant. If it was constitutional error, it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Moorer, 2018 NY Slip Op 00754, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 697 (4th … Continue reading
PA: Furtive movements then refusing to remove hands from pockets was RS
On a report of a man with a gun, officers went to area and found defendant who didn’t exactly match the description. As they circled the block, defendant would change directions. When they pulled up next to him, which was … Continue reading
DE: Def’s texting victim was nexus to the cell phone
Defendant’s texting the victim gives nexus to the cell phone. There was a temporal limit on the warrant. State v. Rizzo, 2018 Del. Super. LEXIS 44 (Jan. 26, 2018) There was reasonable suspicion for seizure of a FedEx package from … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: The stairwell of a hotel was a public place for arrest purposes
The government had detailed facts connecting defendant to a bank robbery and traced his movements, some with surveillance video. This was probable cause, and his arrest was in a public place, the stairwell in a hotel. United States v. Peeples, … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def was handcuffed and in police car, so search incident didn’t apply; it was inevitable, however, inventory would happen
Defendant’s arrest led to a search incident of luggage, but he was handcuffed and in a police car. So, the search incident doctrine can’t apply, but an inventory would have inevitably occurred, so that provides an independent basis for the … Continue reading
NJ: Misapplication of statute to make stop means stop is bad; Heien not yet applied in NJ
The law requires a working taillight. Defendant had one. “The officer’s erroneous application of the functioning taillight requirement was not an objectively reasonable mistake of law.” Therefore, Heien and the objectively reasonable mistake of law doesn’t apply here. The court, … Continue reading
D.Conn.: “observation of a small amount of marijuana not clearly labelled for medicinal use creates probable cause that evidence of illegal drug activity would be found within the car”
“Because Officer Diaz had reason to believe that a gun would be found within the Defendant’s car prior to the stop, his observation of a small amount of marijuana not clearly labelled for medicinal use creates probable cause that evidence … Continue reading
WI: Even though RS dissipated before the driver could be asked for DL, it was still reasonable to check all paperwork
Even though reasonable suspicion dissipates on the stop, here because the owner was a woman with a suspended DL but a man was driving, it is still reasonable for the officer to check the paperwork of the driver and car. … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Admissions about one’s own drug use to police during 911 call about unresponsive woman were RS
Police and EMTs responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive woman who later died. At the scene, admissions about defendant’s own drug abuse were made. “The court finds that the information about E.M.’s drug use, particularly when coupled with … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Dog sniff by stopping officer prolonged the stop; effort to show RS fails
The totality of circumstances that the government presents fails to show reasonable suspicion. Defendant was subjected to a dog sniff by the stopping officer without it, and the motion to suppress is granted because it prolonged the stop. United States … Continue reading
Salt Lake Tribune: Trooper who thought man’s Mormon music was suspicious and searched his car violated Fourth Amendment, judge says
Salt Lake Tribune: Trooper who thought man’s Mormon music was suspicious and searched his car violated Fourth Amendment, judge says by Aubrey Wieber:
MN: Birchfield not retroactive
Application of Birchfield in Minnesota was determined to be procedural rather than substantive for purposes of retroactive effect. Johnson v. State, 2018 Minn. App. LEXIS 10 (Jan. 2, 2018). Defendant’s detention was with reasonable suspicion. “Considering the totality of the … Continue reading
NY4: Man with a gun report led police within one minute to couple on street, and def abandoned gun
Police received a call of a man with a shotgun walking with a woman. Officers got there within a minute and saw a couple matching the description. No lights or siren were on. Defendant walked into a grassy area and … Continue reading
NY4: Officer had RS for encounter that def fled from and hid object under leaves in flight
The officer had reasonable suspicion for an encounter and defendant fled from him, hiding an object under leaves in flight which was abandonment. People v. Thacker, 2017 NY Slip Op 09081, 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9104 (4th Dept. Dec. … Continue reading
D.Utah: Officer-caused 2-sec traffic violation was not RS for stop
The officer’s probably unintentional causing of defendant’s traffic violation made the stop unreasonable. Even if the stop was reasonable, there was no reasonable suspicion for continuing it. United States v. Esteban, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211294 (D. Utah Dec. 22, … Continue reading