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Recent Posts
- OH2: Stop outside the officer’s jurisdiction doesn’t violate 4A
- RawStory Opinion: Trump just declared these parts of America are outside the Constitution (within 100 miles of any border)
- CA1: SW for iPhone 6S didn’t permit search of iPhone 13 despite same phone number
- CA7: It wasn’t a 4A violation to place a pole camera to look over def’s fence he built knowing he was under surveillance
- NM: Conflict of laws: NM exclusionary rule applies to TX 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)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"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
W.D.Mo.: Shooting victim or suspect? Officers couldn’t tell and that was reasonable suspicion.
Shooting victim or suspect? Officers couldn’t tell and that was reasonable suspicion. “Here, the officers knew that two black males were shooting firearms, and Defendant and Jackson were two black males who had been involved in the shooting. While the … Continue reading
D.Conn.: No REP in mental health condition communicated to social worker
There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in mental health information voluntarily provided to a social worker. It become a third party record. Stiggle v. Reichard, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128977 (D. Conn. July 12, 2021). “[T]here is no case … Continue reading
AK: Checking IDs of passengers in traffic stop requires RS under AK Constitution
In a traffic stop, obtaining the passenger’s ID to check for warrants without reasonable suspicion violates the state constitution. Perozzo v. State, 2021 Alas. App. LEXIS 87 (July 9, 2021). Defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim for failure to object … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Questioning passengers about names and DOBs during parking violation stop excessive
Questioning passengers for their IDs or birthdates in a stop for a parking violation was a detour from the mission of the stop under Rodriguez. United States v. McCowan, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126194 (D. Nev. July 7, 2021):
CA4: In open carry state, firearm plus bit more can be RS
Even in an open carry state, open possession of a firearm plus a bit more can be reasonable suspicion on the totality. Walker v. Donahoe, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 20130 (4th Cir. July 7, 2021):
CA6: CI’s PC doesn’t have to be decided because there was good faith
The district court erred in finding no probable cause on information from defendant’s CI and no good faith exception. The CI was stopped one day out of jail driving a stolen motorbike that he said came from defendant. “In the … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Hot pursuit of man with gun into apt was reasonable; and it wasn’t his apt
Defendant didn’t have standing to contest a warrantless entry into his close friend’s apartment when he was hiding there from the police after having fled an apparent arrest. They were also in hot pursuit of a man with a gun. … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Pretext on pretext too much for this court; no RS for stop
A lane change without signaling that affected no other motorist wasn’t justification for defendant’s stop. One crossing the fog line isn’t enough. Pretext on pretext is just too much. Motion to suppress granted. United States v. Womack, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
WA: PC and nexus shown for CSLI warrant before Carpenter
Defendant was a suspect in a diamond theft. Police obtained a search warrant for his cell phone location records and that placed him near the burglary at the time it happened, and there was probable cause for it. The search … Continue reading
DC: Probationer’s GPS records don’t need a SW
A search warrant isn’t required for police to obtain a probationer’s GPS records from the PO. United States v. Jackson, 214 A.3d 464 (D.C. 2019). Crocker v. United States, 2021 D.C. App. LEXIS 167 (July 1, 2021). The officers did … Continue reading
OH6: No RS as to def in a crowd in high crime area
Police arrived at a crowd on a parking lot in a high crime area. People were drinking in public and there was the smell of marijuana in the air, but none of that had anything to do with defendant. Thus, … Continue reading
CA1: Failure to object to R&R was waiver for appeal
Defendant’s failure to object to the R&R on a search claim was waiver of the issue for appeal. United States v. Maldonado-Peña, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 19508 (1st Cir. June 30, 2021). Motorist passed out at the wheel and the … Continue reading
CA9: Order to get out of car permitted in Mimms doesn’t unreasonably extend stop
“The officer’s order to step out of the vehicle and his directive to stand by the patrol car were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. See Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 109-11 (1977) (per curiam). The officer lawfully initiated the … Continue reading
TX3: Def doesn’t get art. 38.23 jury instruction on RS
Because a jury would never understand the question of law in reasonable suspicion, a Texas defendant doesn’t get an art. 38.23 jury instruction on it. “Appellant’s second alleged disputed fact concerns the existence or nonexistence of reasonable suspicion and probable … Continue reading
OH: Unidentified report of def driving under influence justified officer’s stop on totality
“The Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures does not forbid a police officer from initiating a brief investigatory stop of a person if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the person is or is about to … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Abandonment after unreasonable seizure not voluntary
There was no reasonable suspicion for defendant’s detention before he fled the officer. The alleged abandonment occurred after the unreasonable seizure, so it was involuntary. United States v. Dudley, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117108 (D. Nev. June 23, 2021). Florida’s … Continue reading
CA9: Denial of motion to suppress in state court precludes § 1983 case over same search
Defendant lost his motion to suppress in state court over a warrantless entry into his garage. He later sued over the search under § 1983 in federal court. The federal case was precluded by the state denial of the motion … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Def’s failing to stop for a Terry stop doesn’t justify hot pursuit into home
Officers cannot enter a defendant’s home in hot pursuit from his failing to stop for a Terry stop on mere reasonable suspicion. United States v. Cannon, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112705 (D.N.M. June 16, 2021). The officer’s initial observations of … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Officer’s lack of credibility results in finding of no RS
The court finds the officer’s testimony and credibility completely lacking on the basis for the stop and grants the motion to suppress. United States v. McGibney, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110826 (N.D. Ind. June 14, 2021).* Execution of a search … Continue reading