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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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: Reasonable suspicion
D.Minn.: Collective knowledge doctrine applies to RS under Rodriguez
The collective knowledge doctrine supports the extension of defendant’s stop beyond the normal part of a traffic stop incident to its purpose under Rodriguez. The DEA had additional information that added up to reasonable suspicion, almost probable cause. United States … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: There was RS a package contained drugs to pull it out of the flow of mail for more inspection
The facts on this package in the mail gave reasonable suspicion to pull it out of the stream of mail for a further inspection. “The affidavit sworn to by Springer contains many of the same indices giving rise to reasonable … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Only one of three officers saw gun under streetlight; credibility here goes to the officer and why
Three officers were on patrol and only one saw defendant allegedly remove a chrome gun from one pocket and the glint of a streetlight off the gun. Defendant provided an affidavit that he never pulled the gun out, but he … Continue reading
D.Vt.: False name during traffic stop is RS for longer detention
Officer’s reasonable belief driver gave false name is reasonable suspicion to continue a stop. United States v. Marsh, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47995 (D.Vt. April 7, 2016). Defendant challenged the search warrant because it included information that was allegedly obtained … Continue reading
CA7: Refusal to remove hands and then keeping one side of body away from officer was RS
Defendant’s repeated refusals to keep both hands out of his pockets and turning to keep one side away from the officer was reasonable suspicion he was armed. United States v. Mays, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 6552 (7th Cir. April 11, … Continue reading
OR: Possession of a long gun in the woods doesn’t justify a stop and frisk for another weapon without RS
A Forest Service officer came upon defendant and others probably target shooting with rifles. He told them to secure the weapons and they did. Defendant was completely cooperative and nothing suggested that he was otherwise armed. One long gun doesn’t … Continue reading
NE: “Stop” of already stopped car as witness to possible DWI was reasonable on totality
Defendant was already stopped behind a car that the police suspected the driver of drunk driving because of knocked down traffic cones. The officer recognized defendant as a city employee, but he wanted to talk to him because he wanted … Continue reading
CA3: Handle of a gun satisfies “immediately apparent” requirement of plain view
Defendant was stopped because the officer already knew that defendant was driving without a license. The search of the car was justified by the handle of a gun being in plain view sticking out from under the seat, and it … Continue reading
FL5: Pre-McNeely warrantless blood draw saved by GFE
A pre-McNeely warrantless blood draw was unconstitutional now but saved by the good faith exception because it was valid at the time it happened. State v. Liles, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 5427 (Fla. 5th DCA April 8, 2016). Arguing over … Continue reading
FL5: Def showed standing in duffle bag in car he was a passenger in
The trial court denied the motion to suppress without a hearing, and the state concedes error. Defendant showed enough standing in at least the search of his own bag in the car to get a hearing on the legality of … Continue reading
D.Md.: Rodriguez was not a new rule of law so def was on notice of the issue through Caballes
Defendant’s search was in 2011, and he raised Rodriguez in his 2255. First, it’s denied because defendant was on notice of the issue because it said it merely applied Caballes. [Also, it was overturning the Eighth Circuit’s de minimus rule … Continue reading
DC: Unprovoked flight when being asked about possession of a gun was RS
Plainclothes officers in the MPD Gun Recovery Unit saw defendant walk in front of their vehicle. On a here hunch, one called out to him: “Officer Katz testified that he then shined his flashlight on appellant, leaned out of his … Continue reading
MS: Denial of privacy interest in shed behind rented mobile home meant no standing there
In a knock-and-talk, defendant denied any interest in a shed behind her mobile home. While the police were outside, she’d delivered a box to her boyfriend there. She consented to a search of the mobile home. That denial denies her … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Leaving car in street after being taken away by ambulance after being shot justified impoundment and inventory of the car
Defendant called the police because he was shot in the chest while in his car. An ambulance arrived and took defendant to the hospital. His car was left in the middle of the street. Impoundment of the car and inventory … Continue reading
CA6: Separate warrant not required to isolate def in his own house in bathroom to talk to him
Police executed a search warrant and took defendant to the bathroom so they could talk to him about becoming a CI. The detention in the apartment and then the bathroom was justified by the probable cause for this search warrant … Continue reading
CA9: Officer’s lie to def about basis for stop isn’t a Fourth Amendment violation
Officers had reasonable suspicion for the traffic stop based on wiretaps. The fact the officer deliberately lied to defendant about the basis of the stop doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Magallon-Lopez, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 5891 (9th … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Making money but no job was RS for a probation search
Reasonable suspicion for a probation search came from a “trusted” person call that defendant was making money but had no job and he was a past meth dealer. That was enough. Then defendant consented, too. United States v. Danner, 2016 … Continue reading
OH4: PC not required for a traffic stop; it only requires RS
Probable cause is not required to justify a traffic stop; reasonable suspicion is enough. State v. Taylor, 2016-Ohio-1231, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 1124 (4th Dist. March 11, 2016). Defendant was taken to the police station, so he was arrested without … Continue reading