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- 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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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)
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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: Reasonable suspicion
M.D.Ala.: A “Car-Mart” advertisement in place of the license plate was RS for a stop to inquire whether vehicle just purchased or not
“Thus, having viewed the ‘Car-Mart’ advertisement serving as Defendant’s license tag or plate, Cpl. Williams possessed reasonable suspicion to believe that Defendant was in violation of those laws” about getting a car licensed within 20 days of purchase, so the … Continue reading
CA10: “the Fourth Amendment doesn’t require officers to use the least intrusive method of acquiring information”
The district court was mistaken in holding that the defendant officers didn’t use the least restrictive means necessary when he was seized: “the Fourth Amendment doesn’t require officers to use the least intrusive method of acquiring information. See Armijo ex … Continue reading
IA: Hour long detention waiting for drug dog lacked RS
Defendant was stopped for a window tint violation, which he didn’t contest. His LPN check of out-of-state plates took six minutes. It took nearly an hour for the drug dog to arrive. There was no reasonable suspicion for that long … Continue reading
W.D.Ark.: Can’t relitigate appealed search issue in a 2255
“The very Fourth Amendment issues now raised by Berger in this § 2255 proceeding were raised and decided adversely to him on direct appeal. … He may not do so again now.” United States v. Berger, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: 15 second delay in raising hands when told to is RS
Officers had reasonable suspicion when they confronted defendant on the parking lot of a club where there had been many crimes in the past. His delay for 15 seconds in raising his hands justified drawing their weapons. United States v. … Continue reading
IN: Officer safety concerns not shown for search of juvenile’s back pack for asking to borrow cell phone
The juvenile in this case was in a Kroger parking lot late one Sunday morning asking to use cell phones. The police were called, and he was found with two backpacks and the police suspected he was a runaway. A … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Passenger’s refusal to answer basic questions and ignoring officer during routine traffic stop justified patdown
“Here, the Court finds that Officer Kunz had reasonable suspicion to believe that Defendant was armed and presently dangerous, such that his patdown of Defendant was lawful. The stop occurred at night, when it was dark outside. After the vehicle … Continue reading
CA3: Being taken to a police station interrogation room in handcuffs was a de facto arrest
Defendant was de facto arrested when he was taken in handcuffs from the place of his seizure to a police station and placed in a holding cell for interrogation. United States v. Wrensford, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 13894 (3d Cir. … Continue reading
D.Nev.: An email warrant can be for servers outside the jurisdiction of the court
A search warrant for email can be for servers outside the jurisdiction of the court. United States v. McGuire, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114471 (D. Nev. Feb. 9, 2017). The Coast Guard was surveilling Arroyo Quemada Beach in Santa Barbara … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Border Patrol had RS two vehicles were traveling in tandem during midnight border crossing
The Border Patrol officer had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant’s vehicle for transporting persons across the border in the trunk. Defendant got past the checkpoint, but another officer’s suspicions of a following car were heightened. After two were found in … Continue reading
DE: Stop exceeded its justification; seizure of money in backpack unreasonable
The owner of cash in this forfeiture action showed that the stop exceeded the time necessary for writing a ticket for a seat belt violation, so he prevails in the forfeiture of his cash seized from a backpack in the … Continue reading
KS: While stop and frisk must be objectively reasonable, officer’s subjective beliefs have evidentiary relevance and are “not to be ignored”
While objective facts must support a frisk, an officer’s subjective beliefs are at least relevant evidence on how objective it is. “In short, an officer’s subjective fear or belief that a stopped person is armed and presently dangerous is not … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: DL checkpoint stopping all cars was reasonable
Defendant was stopped at a driver’s license checkpoint where all cars were stopped. The court finds the checkpoint constitutional. Defendant then consented to the search of his car. United States v. Moore, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116012 (E.D. N.C. May … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Def’s companion’s frisk showed def he was next, so he was seized, but it was with RS
The frisk of defendant’s companion indicated to him that he was seized, too, and that he’d be frisked before he fled and discarded the gun. Still, there was reasonable suspicion for the seizure, and the motion to suppress the gun … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: LPN scanner produced warrant for car owner, but driver was wrong gender; with other people in car, officer can assume owner in car
When a license plate scanner alerts on a car that the registered owner has a warrant and the driver is not the same gender as the owner, the officer can assume, for reasonableness or reasonable suspicion purposes, that one of … Continue reading
NE: Reach under seat during traffic stop was RS
The officer suspected that a wanted person was in the car defendant was in and stopped it. As he approached the car, the driver reached under the seat. The wanted person wasn’t found, but there was reasonable suspicion from the … Continue reading
D.Md.: 2255 Franks IAC claim fails for not showing what the false statements were and how PC was undermined
Defendant’s 2255 Franks IAC claim fails for not showing what the false statements were and how probable cause was undermined. United States v. Johnson, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112806 (D. Md. July 20, 2017). Defendant’s moving his hands around in … Continue reading
DC: Time and proximity to a crime are important in RS, but here it was lacking
Time and proximity are important in the reasonable suspicion calculus. The closer in time with proximity to the scene of a crime, the more likely the suspect is involved in the suspected or already occurred criminal activity. Here, however, two … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Single key in the ignition adds nothing to RS
The stop was unreasonably prolonged without reasonable suspicion. All the officer had was nervousness (belied by the video), one passenger had no bag in the car, and a single key was in the ignition. United States v. Flores, 2017 U.S. … Continue reading