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- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to 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)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (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
OH5: Merely being drunk in the Sheriff’s Office lobby isn’t a crime justifying a search
Defendant’s being merely drunk in the lobby of the sheriff’s office wasn’t reasonable suspicion of a crime because the officers didn’t see how he got there (i.e., did he drive himself). State v. Mast, 2019-Ohio-4644, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 4698 … Continue reading
IA: One-way cross country rental and multiple cell phones wasn’t RS for extending stop
The officer had no reasonable suspicion developed from defendant’s traffic stop. The rental car was a one-way rental in the name of another and defendant had multiple cell phones. The stop, for all intents and purposes, appears strung out to … Continue reading
OH2: Def’s allegedly carrying a rifle in an apartment building parking lot, even if true, wasn’t RS
A phone call to the police said there was a man walking through an apartment building parking lot carrying a rifle, something that wasn’t a crime. Police responded and saw defendant. They approached him when he wasn’t carrying a rifle, … Continue reading
TN: Defense counsel’s failure to object to officer’s testimony of def’s confession during suppression hearing violated Simmons but was harmless
Defendant on post-conviction showed that defense counsel’s performance was deficient for not objecting under Simmons to a state investigator’s testimony that he confessed to the crime in his suppression hearing testimony. Defendant, however, can’t show prejudice because of the other … Continue reading
KS: 911 call of person shot brought police; entry justified under exigent circumstances
Police received a call that a person had been shot at a particular address. They arrived and saw two women arguing with a man. He ran off. The officers asked if the women were hurt, and they said they weren’t. … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Officer’s verifying def’s identity reasonably extended the stop
The extension of the stop wasn’t based on reasonable suspicion; it was the officer trying to determine why defendant’s license was revoked and whether defendant was who he said he was. “Under these circumstances, it is clear that the mission … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: There was no RS as to def who was talking with another for whom there was; def should have been allowed to leave
When one defendant wanted to leave the encounter with the police, there was no reasonable suspicion for his patdown and he should have been allowed to leave without the patdown. United States v. Steffens, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 190597 (N.D. … Continue reading
CA7: Trying and losing a 4A claim in state court precludes § 1983 case over same issue
Plaintiff was arrested for drunk driving and convicted in local court after raising his Fourth Amendment claim there. He sued everybody involved in his arrest. The court finds him precluded from relitigating it in federal court under § 1983. Novotny … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Speculation about illegal FISA wiretapping fails to show standing under Clapper
A complaint against the Special Counsel that his office conducted unconstitutional surveillance under FISA is dismissed as speculation, and speculation is no standing under Clapper. And plaintiff’s counsel has already lost cases in this court on no standing with facts … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def’s giving false name justifies extending stop
Defendant’s giving a false name extended the stop and added to the reasonable suspicion to detain him after his true identity was discovered. United States v. Jackson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188225 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 30, 2019). The affidavit for … Continue reading
WA: A purse and a closed pouch within are subject to search incident
Defendant was subject to a valid search incident, and that included not only her purse, but also a pouch within her purse. State v. Richards, 2019 Wash. App. LEXIS 2772 (Oct. 29, 2019). Officers saw defendant and others and ordered … Continue reading
Reason: Reasonable Suspicion From Driver to Car: A Few Thoughts on Kansas v. Glover
Reason: Reasonable Suspicion From Driver to Car: A Few Thoughts on Kansas v. Glover by Orin S. Kerr Some interesting issues raised by the only Fourth Amendment case currently on the Supreme Court’s docket.
VA: Def’s refusal to submit to a SW for DNA could be argued as consciousness of guilt at trial
Defendant’s conscious refusal to submit to a DNA buccal swab sought by a search warrant could be argued as consciousness of guilt. Haas v. Commonwealth, 2019 Va. App. LEXIS 237 (Oct. 29. 2019). The officer’s knowledge from nearly six months … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def’s furtive movement justified extending the stop
Defendant’s reaching out of sight during a traffic stop was a furtive movement justifying extending the stop and seeing what he was doing. United States v. Edwards, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185987 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 28, 2019).* The protective sweep … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: The delay in the stop was def’s own stalling
The stop was prolonged but it was defendant’s own stalling, so Rodriguez wasn’t violated. “The fact that Thompson and Dwyer did not issue any ticket for the window tinting or the obstructed brake lights is not relevant to the question … Continue reading
MA: Obtaining and executing arrest warrant in middle of night for a rash of burglaries was reasonable
Police were investigating a rash of burglaries, and woke up a magistrate in the middle of the night to get an arrest warrant for defendant. Officers went to arrest him and others were seeking a search warrant. At his apartment, … Continue reading
IL: Def’s leaving house to deliver to a controlled buy was nexus for house
There was nexus for the search warrant for defendant’s house where he was alleged to have left his house and driven directly to the scene of a controlled buy where he was delivering. People v. Teague, 2019 IL App (3d) … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio & S.D.Miss.: SW including “any vehicle on the premises” is still particular
A search warrant that authorized the search of “any vehicle on the premises” was not unparticular because it allowed searches of visitor’s cars too. Plenty of cases already hold that “any vehicle on the premises” is particular. Moreover, there was … Continue reading
OH5: It was reasonable to run the dog around a car in a traffic stop where it happened without extending the stop during waiting time
The trial court did not err in denying the motion to suppress where the officer ran the dog around the car within the time of the normal traffic stop. Therefore, the traffic stop was not illegally extended because the purpose … Continue reading
CO: DHS caseworkers subject to 4A in their warrantless entry
State DHS case workers are subject to the Fourth Amendment, and their warrantless entry into defendant’s home was unreasonable. People v. Dyer, 2019 COA 161, 2019 Colo. App. LEXIS 1588 (Oct. 24, 2019). Probable cause for search of a car … Continue reading