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Recent Posts
- OH7: Magistrate signing SW for something outside of territorial jurisdiction not a 4A violation
- 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
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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
N.D.Ga.: A criminal history check can be run under Rodriguez, particularly where no DL on person
Defendant was stopped driving a moped without a helmet, and he was found not to have a license. “The officers also had the right [under Rodriguez] to check McIntosh’s criminal history during the stop, which included discovery in ISIS that … Continue reading
IL: PC for arrest can arise from being with somebody else apparently committing a crime
Probable cause for arrest can arise just from defendant’s connection and close association with others. Here, others were arrested for passing counterfeit bills, and defendant arrived in the same car. People v. Braswell, 2019 IL App (1st) 172810, 2019 Ill. … Continue reading
OH10: 911 call from ID’d person two men waving guns in a library is RS
911 call from an identified person that two men were waving guns in a library was reasonable suspicion. State v. Davidson, 2019-Ohio-5320, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 5399 (10th Dist. Dec. 24, 2019).* Defendant fails in his ineffectiveness claim. “Even assuming … Continue reading
NY4: Anonymous call confirmed by observation was RS
“[T]he police had reasonable suspicion justifying the forcible detention of defendant ‘based on the contents of a 911 call from an anonymous individual and the confirmatory observations of the police’ …. [¶] Furthermore, even assuming, arguendo, that defendant established that … Continue reading
CA8: Def was subjected to two patdowns, and both were reasonable and with separate RS
The arresting officer had probable cause to stop the vehicle in which defendant was riding based on the officer’s credible testimony that he believed the vehicle was speeding and that he had observed two possible traffic violations with the vehicle’s … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Even though def’s Mexican LPN couldn’t be checked except for whether it was in a crime, the officer was still able to inquire
“The record shows that Sgt. Thumman determined almost immediately after the stop that Defendant’s [Mexican] registration was expired, which is an arrestable offense in Texas. Despite the 10-6 [don’t report back unless vehicle used in a crime], he was free … Continue reading
CA6: Def doesn’t show officer delayed stop for drug dog; whole encounter was 5-10 minutes
Defendant argued that the officer delayed the process of issuing a traffic citation by extraneous questioning just to get a dog sniff in within the period before the traffic citation could be completed. Still, the entire process reasonably took ten … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: FedEx’s taking a package off its conveyor belt for a dog sniff wasn’t a seizure that interfered with def’s possessory interest
“[T]he police did not ‘seize’ the package until after the dog alerted to the presence of drugs. It was not a seizure to remove the package from the FedEx conveyor belt, carry it 200 feet to the back of the … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: FIPF arrest justifies search incident
Defendant’s arrest for being a felon in possession justified his search incident. United States v. Westfall, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217329 (E.D. Mo. Dec. 18, 2019).* Defendant’s detention was without reasonable suspicion and unreasonably extended. A probation officer was working … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Plea of guilty without plea agreement still waives 4A challenge
Defendant made a Fourth Amendment challenge then pled to the indictment without a plea agreement. He still waives his Fourth Amendment claim because he could have appealed. Dunbar v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217464 (N.D. Tex. Nov. 14, … Continue reading
IA: Std of review of PC is not is there PC, but is there a substantial basis for believing there was PC
“Because the Fourth Amendment values the practice of obtaining a warrant to reduce the perception of intrusive police conduct, we do not strictly scrutinize the sufficiency of the underlying affidavit. … Instead, we decide whether the issuing magistrate had a … Continue reading
MO: Exclusionary rule inapplicable in civil and administrative proceedings
The exclusionary rule does not apply in civil or administrative proceedings. Mo. Landowners Alliance v. Pub. Serv. Comm’n, 2019 Mo. App. LEXIS 1975 (Dec. 17, 2019). There was reasonable suspicion to conduct a weapons search of defendant’s vehicle. The stop … Continue reading
D.N.M.: A SW for CP doesn’t need to be limited to only devices on the premises police think were used; all can be searched
In a search warrant for child pornography, the warrant does not have to attempt to be limited to the only devices that the officers think downloaded the images; all devices on the premises can be searched, following codefendant’s case, United … Continue reading
M.D.N.C.: The conduct of the men here was apparently innocent, and nothing made it even rise to RS [as low a standard as that is]
Three men standing by a car wasn’t reasonable suspicion. The court analyzes each factor [not the “divide and conquer” attitude to be avoided] and finds it wanting and ultimately just a hunch. Then, the court considers the totality of circumstance, … Continue reading
OH6: Flawed justification for ordering def out of vehicle wasn’t prejudicial where Mimms allowed it in any event
“Nevertheless, while the officers may have been mistaken in their belief that a search of the vehicle could be performed absent a custodial arrest, their flawed justification for ordering the occupants out of the vehicle was not prejudicial here. This … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Def was being tailed on a DEA tip; a traffic stop ripened to RS
Defendant’s car was being followed on a tip from the DEA that he was transporting drugs. When the officer pulled him over for a traffic offense, the officer noticed air freshener sprinkled on the floor of a clean and new … Continue reading
WY: Def’s contradictions of travel compared to car rental agreement and lies about criminal history was RS
Defendant was stopped for following too close in a rental car. It was reasonable for the trooper to suspect defendant rented the car to transport drugs because there were obvious contradictions between the car rental agreement and his travel plans, … Continue reading
CA11: The lack of even arguable PC for ptf’s arrest denies the officer QI
This is a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim. “The district court, upon a close analysis of the elements of the crimes alleged, determined that the facts proffered by Detective Brashears are insufficient to establish probable cause, or even arguable probable … Continue reading
CA6: Dodging the question when asked about a weapon during an investigative detention added to RS
Defendant allegedly had a motive to be violent, and, when officers asked him about whether he was armed, he dodged the question. The evidence supports the district court’s conclusion that there was reasonable suspicion for the intrusion. United States v. … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Consent search of truck led to PC it was hauling a lot of cash; use of a drill then to try to find it was reasonable
Defendant was stopped and consented to a search of his truck. The consent search led to probable cause to believe the truck was transporting a lot of cash. Using a drill to find the cash was reasonable once there was … Continue reading