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- WaPo: They confided in ChatGPT. Their secrets ended up in court.
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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)
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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
NY Richmond Co.: PC without including protective sweep
“These facts alone, without taking the protective sweep into consideration, would have provided a magistrate with probable cause to issue a search warrant. A sworn statement of an identified member of the community attesting to facts directly and personally observed … Continue reading
OH7: Attached affidavit made SW particular
While the search warrant wasn’t particular, it incorporated the affidavit which was. State v. Bugno, 2022-Ohio-2008, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 1882 (7th Dist. June 9, 2022). The emergency aid exception applies: “[T]he presence of blood on the premises, coupled with … Continue reading
CA7: Inevitable impoundment of car mooted claim dog jumped in car
Defendant’s car was inevitably going to be searched after impoundment, so the question of the drug dog jumping into the car doesn’t have to be decided. United States v. Overton, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 16158 (7th Cir. June 13, 2022). … Continue reading
OH8: Disavowing reliance on Franks at suppression hearing is waiver
Defendant’s disavowing the search issue in his motion to suppress involved Franks is waiver for appeal. The state sought clarification it wasn’t an issue and got it. State v. Claytor, 2022-Ohio-1938, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 1812 (8th Dist. June 9, … Continue reading
W.D.Okla.: An alleged victim’s vague claim a group of men ‘were after him’ is not RS
“Applying these standards, and giving deference to all inferences Officer Nitzky could reasonably have drawn in favor of the credibility of Mr. Ingram’s complaint, the Court concludes that the detention and search of Defendant at the Denny’s on December 14, … Continue reading
S.D.Miss.: Taint team after a SW isn’t a judicial function, rejecting Baltimore Law Firm
This district court rejects, as has S.D.N.Y., the Art. III function of filter teams reviewing searches of Baltimore Law Firm. (In re Search Warrant Issued June 13, 2019 (“Baltimore Law Firm”), 942 F.3d 159, 170-71 (4th Cir. 2019)). Too much … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: Nighttime search rule doesn’t bar nighttime arrest warrant execution
As to arrest warrants, Rule 41 and 21 U.S.C. § 879 aren’t clear on whether a nighttime entry is barred for execution of an arrest warrant. (Tie goes to the government on reasonableness.) A violation of knock-and-announce doesn’t invoke the … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Stop without RS still leads to PC and no exclusion
The stop was without reasonable suspicion, but the court finds the subsequent search incident based on probable cause from the stop reasonable and refuses to apply the exclusionary rule. United States v. Harris, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97002 (E.D.Pa. May … Continue reading
OK: Exclusionary rule applies in civil cases under state constitution
The exclusionary rule applies to Oklahoma City’s effort to enforce a warrantless entry to seize and forfeit birds in apparent distress. Oklahoma applies the exclusionary rule in most civil cases under its state constitutional provision against unreasonable searches. There was … Continue reading
C.D.Cal. orders state court to unseal SW papers that led to federal prosecution
For some reason, the federal government and defendant do not have the state search warrant in this case after it indicted defendants. So, “The Court ORDERS the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County to unseal state search warrant No. … Continue reading
MT: Welfare check of car was reasonable, but extending it was without RS
The officer was justified in a welfare check of defendant sleeping in his car, but it never developed into reasonable suspicion. The stop was unreasonably extended. State v. Zeimer, 2022 MT 96, 2022 Mont. LEXIS 479 (May 24, 2022). A … Continue reading
ID: Not unreasonable to check wants and warrants on passenger during a traffic stop
“This appeal arises out of a traffic stop where a single officer, without having reasonable suspicion that a crime involving the passenger was afoot, checked the passenger for outstanding warrants. The officer used her patrol vehicle’s computer and received a … Continue reading
MI directs its CoA to consider application of exclusionary rule in zoning case
The Michigan Supreme Court remanded Long Lake Twp. v. Maxon, 2021 Mich. App. LEXIS 1819 (Mar. 18, 2021) (posted here) to determine below whether the exclusionary rule should apply in a zoning case. Long Lake Twp. v. Maxon, 2022 Mich. … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Inmate has no standing in a contraband cell phone
A person in prison has no standing to contest a wiretap on a contraband cell phone. United States v. Yandell, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91166 (E.D.Cal. May 20, 2022). “The facts of this case indicate that [Officer] Leitzen, while conducting … Continue reading
RI: Commercial fishing is a “closely regulated industry” and a vessel’s monitoring system could be examined
Commercial fishing is a closely regulated industry. “Appellant also had a sea scallop permit, requiring the vessel to have a vessel monitoring system (VMS), which transmits global positioning system (GPS) coordinates every half hour to the National Marine Fisheries Service.” … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Tracking warrant issued without PC, but GFE still applied
There was no probable cause for the tracking warrant for defendant. But, it was not so lacking in probable cause that the good faith exception does not apply. United States v. Escudero, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89120 (D.Minn. May 18, … Continue reading
OH1: Doing nothing unusual or criminal 5 minutes after ShotSpotter alert wasn’t RS
Officers found defendant putting his kids in his car about five minutes after a ShotSpotter alert where no one had complained of gunfire. His ultimate frisk lacked reasonable suspicion. State v. Henson, 2022-Ohio-1571, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 1482 (1st Dist. … Continue reading
ID: Calling for drug dog before RS existed extended the stop
During the traffic stop, the diversion to call for a drug dog was without reasonable suspicion and it extended the stop. State v. Still, 166 Idaho 351, 458 P.3d 220 (App. 2019), is overruled. State v. Karst, 2022 Ida. LEXIS … Continue reading