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- CA11: Service of SW without attachments isn’t 4A violation
- KS: Running warrants on a passed out person is reasonable
- M.D.Fla.: Unidentified pills in driver’s lap may have been RS but it wasn’t PC for arrest
- D.C.Cir.: It was reasonable for officers to conclude that evidence or instrumentalities of the crime would be found in the car used in a robbery
- CA7: Officer’s warrantless view of CSAM flagged by hash value was not unreasonable
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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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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)
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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
N.D.Ala.: Whether DTF officer could make speeding stops was a reasonable mistake of law under Heien
The task force officer involved allegedly wasn’t authorized to make speeding traffic stops, but this was a reasonable mistake of law under Heien. United States v. Shepherd, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181976 (N.D. Ala. Oct. 10, 2023). The bulge in … Continue reading
D.N.M.: RS not needed for questions at a fixed immigration checkpoint
Defendant’s questioning about his work at a fixed immigration checkpoint did not require reasonable suspicion. United States v. Briscoe, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181188 (D.N.M. Oct. 6, 2023). There was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop at gunpoint for his being … Continue reading
MA: Officer recording drug deal on cell phone governed by state wiretap law
An officer’s surreptitious recording of a drug deal with a cell phone is an interception of a communication under the state wiretapping law. Commonwealth v. Du, 2023 Mass. App. LEXIS 143 (Oct. 6, 2023). The publicly available address (SoS, website, … Continue reading
DE: High crime area + messy car ≠ RS
Defendant lived in a “high crime area,” and that did not make his car subject to search just because of alleged tips. “When Officer Millner asked Defendant whether there were guns or drugs in the vehicle, Defendant replied ‘no’ and … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Parolee had standing in place searched despite his reduced REP
The R&R determined that defendant parolee had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched because of his parole status alone. The District Judge disagrees, finds enough standing to contest the search, and remands to the USMJ to decide … Continue reading
AR: Dog alerted outside before it went in open door to sniff again
A drug dog alerted on defendant’s car before the dog approached an open door and sniffed inside, too. The outside alert made the inside alert reasonable. Fleming v. State, 2023 Ark. App. 439 (Oct. 4, 2023). Officers received an anonymous … Continue reading
S.D.Ind. Warrant for video surveillance required under Title III
A warrant for CCTV surveillance of the defendant came under the wiretap statute, Title III, and necessity and probable cause was shown. United States v. Jones, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178457 (S.D. Ind. Oct. 4, 2023). The totality of information … Continue reading
OH: Written inventory not always required to justify it
The failure of officers to make a written inventory doesn’t necessarily constitutionally nullify the inventory. Officer’s testimony about the standardized procedures was sufficient without actually putting the policy into evidence. State v. Toran, 2023-Ohio-3564, 2023 Ohio LEXIS 1957 (Oct. 4, … Continue reading
DE: When the search is overbroad, the remedy is to limit the product of the search not void it
When the search is overbroad, the remedy is to limit the product of the search not void it. Thomas v. State, 2023 Del. LEXIS 318 (Oct. 2, 2023). There was plenty of information from the CI on which to justify … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: No RS for stop, but def fled when tried to be pulled over and that was
Taking the government’s six proffered circumstances which they claim add up to reasonable suspicion, the court finds them lacking on the totality. But, as defendant was being pulled over, he fled, and that made reasonable suspicion. United State v. Shelton, … Continue reading
CA6: Officer’s knowledge of parole search condition irrelevant when there was PC
“Regardless of whether Cosme was aware of the search condition prior to conducting the traffic stop, the district court did not err in denying Marr’s motion to suppress. We thus find it unnecessary to address the broader question of whether … Continue reading
W.D.Va.: Interference with prison mail is 1&14A claim, not 4A
Confiscation or interference with prison legal mail is a First and Fourteenth Amendment claim, not Fourth. Chenevert v. Kanode, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171627 (W.D. Va. Sep. 26, 2023). There was reasonable suspicion for a frisk of the driver of … Continue reading
IL: Pills in knotted baggie were “immediately apparent” for plain view
Plain view: “In the case before us, the evidence showed that it was immediately apparent to Officer Yanez, i.e., he had probable cause to believe, that the white pills in the blue-tinted, knotted baggie were illegal narcotics based on his … Continue reading
CA7: Restating 4A claim doesn’t satisfy successor habeas standard
A restated Fourth Amendment claim doesn’t satisfy the standard for a successor 2254 petition. Hardy v. Neal, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 25343 (7th Cir. Sep. 25, 2023). Plaintiff fails in his claim the county routinely violates the Fourth Amendment in … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: License plate reading “SOVEREIGN CITIZEN USC ART. SEC. 242.” was RS for stop
License plate reading “SOVEREIGN CITIZEN USC ART. SEC. 242.” was reasonable suspicion for a stop. He admitted he had a gun and the computer check showed he was a convicted felon. United States v. Craft, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170483 … Continue reading
PA MMA doesn’t permit driving while smoking MMJ
The MMA doesn’t permit driving while smoking MMJ. The smell of burnt MJ coming from defendant’s car was reasonable suspicion to extend the stop. Commonwealth v. Sloan, 2023 PA Super 173 (Sep. 21, 2023).* Plaintiff was in court shortly after … Continue reading
TX2: Slow to pull over and furtive movements is RS
When the officer is attempting to pull over a car for a traffic offense, being slow to stop and furtive movements in the car become reasonable suspicion to extend the stop. Moore v. State, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 7343 (Tex. … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Two anonymous tips about a car built upon one another and provided RS
Two anonymous tips about a car built upon one another and finding the car on the interstate was reasonable suspicion. United States v. Gonzalez, No. 422-CR-40119-KES, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167068 (D.S.D. Sep. 15, 2023). Defendant was indicted for conspiring … Continue reading