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- S.D.Fla.: SW for def’s house included his tent outside
- 404 Media: Flock: LAPD Regularly Pulled Over Innocent People Because License Plate Readers Flagged Their Cars As Stolen
- CA6: Despite two guns being suppressed from arrest on bare-bones arrest affidavit, third gun was later validly seized by independent source
- D.Md.: Govt’s motion to reconsider granted motion to suppress denied; arguments now are too late
- CA4: Cell phone non-forensic border search doesn’t require individualized suspicion
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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
E.D.Pa.: Def gets return of property seized 7½ years ago
Defendant is entitled to return of property originally seized 7½ years ago to prosecute him that is not contraband and no longer needed. United States v. Green, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85174 (E.D.Pa. June 30, 2015). A state law enforcement … Continue reading
AR: Wildlife officers’ detention of defendant was without reasonable suspicion
A Game and Fish Commission wildlife officer’s investigation into whether defendant was complying with the hunting laws, even if authorized [the court of appeals said it wasn’t: Pickle v. State, 2014 Ark. App. 726, 453 S.W.3d 157], continued on too … Continue reading
OH9: Collective knowledge doctrine applies to reasonable suspicion
The collective knowledge doctrine applies to reasonable suspicion, too. State v. Freeman, 2015-Ohio-2501, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 2400 (9th Dist. June 24, 2015). Defendant called 911 about the pregnant deceased falling down stairs. He showed the officer text messages from … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Def didn’t lose REP in car by loaning it out
Defendant retained his expectation of privacy in his car even though he loaned it to somebody else. On the totality of circumstances, there was probable cause for a search of the car under the automobile exception. United States v. Williams, … Continue reading
OH5: Being on porch waiting for keys before 8 pm was not a nighttime search
The daytime search provision is 7 am to 8 pm. Officers were on defendant’s porch before 8 pm and were waiting for keys rather than force entry. They complied with the rule. State v. Harris, 2015-Ohio-2480, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS … Continue reading
IN adopts “new crime exception” under state constitution; illegal search doesn’t immunize battery on police officer
“Many state and federal courts have applied an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule called the new-crime exception. This exception provides that notwithstanding a strong causal connection in fact between an illegal search or seizure by law enforcement and … Continue reading
W.D.La.: By requesting a tax reassessment, plaintiff did not consent to an entry onto the curtilage or an entry into the property
By requesting a tax reassessment, plaintiff did not consent to an entry onto the curtilage or an entry into the property for the reassessment. King v. La. Tax Comm’n, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80012 (W.D.La. June 19, 2015). Defendant’s stop … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Waving money and looking nervous on a street corner was RS to a trained narcotics officer
A police officer stopping behind an already parked car isn’t a stop of the person who is free to walk away, United States v. Kim, 25 F.3d 1426 (9th Cir. 1994), but it is of the car. Here, officers had … Continue reading
IL: Stopping writing citation to do a dog sniff without justification unlawfully extended the stop
The officer unlawfully prolonged the duration of the stop when he interrupted his traffic citation preparation to conduct a dog sniff based on an unparticularized suspicion of criminal activity. There was no dispute that the dog sniff added time to … Continue reading
CA7: Parking on the sidewalk is RS for a stop
Officers had reasonable suspicion for a stop when they saw defendant’s car parked on the sidewalk. When they got out of their car, defendant walked toward the back of his car then fled. In the process he tossed a gun. … Continue reading
CA8: Objectively reasonable to stop for speeding; dissent doesn’t buy it
It was objectively reasonable for the officer to stop the defendant for speeding. The officer estimated 50-55 in a 35, and the majority goes along with that under Heien. The defense investigator used the video to conclude it was 35.8 … Continue reading
IN: Prior arrest for meth could be considered as RS in overbuying pseudo
Defendant’s prior arrest for methamphetamine was a factor that could be considered when the officer approached defendant for over purchasing pseudoephedrine at a drug store found on a records check. There was no reason for the officer to doubt the … Continue reading
D.Colo.: Admission during stop defendant was in U.S. illegally justified further detention
During defendant’s arrest, he admitted he was in the U.S. unlawfully, so he could be detained for ICE officers. United States v. Arrazola-Vanega, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76006 (D.Colo. May 21, 2015).* Defendant was seen riding a bicycle and the … Continue reading
OR: Prying open glove box without RS suppressed
Defendant’s stop was unlawfully extended without reasonable suspicion. In an area known for gang activity where there was a party attended by gang members known to be armed, officers surrounded defendant’s car on a parking lot where she hadn’t paid … Continue reading
OH9: Def’s innocent explanations don’t per se undermine reasonable suspicion
Defendant’s innocent explanations for being in the parking lot in a high crime area don’t undermine the officer’s reasonable suspicion developed at the time. State v. Starr, 2015-Ohio-2193, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 2113 (9th Dist. June 8, 2015).* The probation … Continue reading
techdirt: Because The 4th Amendment Only Kicks In After The Fact, ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ Will Always Be Anything But
techdirt: Because The 4th Amendment Only Kicks In After The Fact, ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ Will Always Be Anything But by Tim Cushing: A few weeks ago, we wrote about a young man who had $16,000 “forfeited” to DEA agents while riding … Continue reading