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- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- 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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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)
--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.Ind.: Mistake as to address for SW was precipitated by def and doesn’t implicate Franks
Mistake as to address (Green v. Gretna) was precipitated by defendant having given a Green Street address during a prior stop. There’s no showing of a deliberate or even reckless falsehood by the officer in getting the state search warrant … Continue reading
FL5: Record doesn’t show no standing in CSLI; remanded
The record does not conclusively show that defendant was without standing to challenge the CSLI from the cell phone at issue. Remanded. Litz v. State, 2019 Fla. App. LEXIS 649 (Fla. 5th DCA Jan. 18, 2019).* A store loss prevention … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Pocket and backpack search and patdown of 21 students at school for stolen money was with RS so officer gets QI
A school security officer gets qualified immunity for a patdown search of 21 students in a class for allegedly stolen money because there was reasonable suspicion as to all 21. Woods v. Rio Rancho Pub. Schs, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Six month unjustified delay in getting SW for hard drive made search unreasonable
Six month delay in getting a search warrant for a hard drive in a child pornography case was unreasonable. The government could give a good reason for the delays which might have justified it. Search recommended suppressed. United States v. … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Camping in a nonapproved area of Yosemite National Park was a reasonable suspicion
Camping in a nonapproved area of Yosemite National Park after a warning not to was reasonable suspicion for a stop. United States v. Ontiveros, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2791 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 8, 2019).* Defendant over time filed five motions … Continue reading
CA11: Questioning during stop exceeded Rodriguez, but it was before that, so GFE applies
The stop was reasonable, and the questioning of the motorist was valid at the time it happened (December 2013). Under Rodriguez, however, the stop was unlawfully extended. Under the good faith exception, the detention was still valid. United States v. … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Asst prosecutors at an investigation don’t get immunity for 4A violation they observed and allegedly condoned
Assistant prosecutors involved in an investigation do not get prosecutorial immunity for silence in the face of an alleged Fourth Amendment violation in their presence they allegedly condone. Fogle v. Pa. State Police, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217701 (W.D. Pa. … Continue reading
OH9: No 4A right that RS is needed to run a license plate number
There is no Fourth Amendment right for the officer to have reasonable suspicion to run one’s license plate because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in it. State v. Moore, 2018-Ohio-5223, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 5527 (9th Dist. Dec. … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Alleged state procedural errors in issuing SW is irrelevant under 4A in federal court
“As a threshold matter, defendant Nelson’s objection that the search warrant was per se invalid because no verbatim record of the informant’s testimony as required by N.Y.C.P.L. § 690.36 was preserved is mistaken. Whether the search warrant for the defendant’s … Continue reading
CA2: Anonymous 911 call of man waving a gun satisfied Navarette
This anonymous 911 call of a menacing man with a weapon was reliable enough for a stop. The caller stayed on the phone after asking it not be recorded but told all 911 calls are, there was detail about the … Continue reading
OH11: When def’s ID showed he wasn’t subject to an order of protection, questions about drugs unreasonably extended stop
Defendant was stopped and the officer asked for his ID to determine whether defendant was subject to an order of protection. He wasn’t. Then the officer started asking about drugs, and he didn’t like the form of defendant’s answer. That … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: SW for CP permitted search of entire dwelling; it wasn’t apparent to officers def had a roommate
Defendant’s email and IP address connected him to receipt of child pornography. The search warrant for his entire home for child pornography was valid even though defendant had a roommate. There’s no constitutional requirement for police to go to great … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Reasonable to put def in police car where he had no DL or registration to car while they checked it out
It was reasonable for officers to put defendant in their vehicle when he had no DL or registration for the vehicle he was driving while they checked it out. “The officers ran Bonner’s name through their databases and learned that … Continue reading
D.Minn.: This wasn’t a case of guilt by association for being near a drug dealer; officers reasonably believed drug deal occurred
This was not a case of mere propinquity to a drug dealer causing defendant’s frisk. Based on the officer’s training and experience, the officers could fairly conclude that there was a drug deal going on and not just a casual … Continue reading
TX14: Drug house was under virtual surveillance for 30 years; def’s coming and going in seconds was a start to follow him
“There is a well-known drug house in Houston where law enforcement has been making drug busts for more than thirty years. Appellant approached that drug house when police were surveilling it as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation. An undercover … Continue reading
E.D.La.: No PC or RS for def’s stop and frisk
Under the totality of circumstances, the officer lacked both probable cause and reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop. United States v. Muse, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209817 (E.D. La. Dec. 12, 2018)*:
KY: License plate reader alert justified stop
A license plate reader told the officer that defendant’s car insurance needed to be verified because it was not on file, and that was a reasonable basis for the stop. Lynem v. Commonwealth, 2018 Ky. App. LEXIS 299 (Dec. 7, … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: CI on the controlled buy wasn’t an “active participant” in the crime
The CI’s participation in the controlled buy that led to a search warrant doesn’t make the CI an “active participant” in the crime where that’s only the basis for issuance of the warrant and it’s not a separate charge. United … Continue reading
IN: A search waiver condition “without a warrant and without probable cause” still requires RS
A search waiver condition “without a warrant and without probable cause” still requires reasonable suspicion. Jarman v. State, 2018 Ind. App. LEXIS 445 (Nov. 30, 2018). Window tinting that covered the back window brake light was a traffic violation justifying … Continue reading
NE: For Rodriguez purposes, it doesn’t matter that the stop was at a gas station and not on the side of the road
Defendant’s reasonable detention pre-dog sniff was at a gas station and not on the side of the road. That doesn’t change the constitutional calculus. State v. Ferguson, 301 Neb. 697 (Nov. 30, 2018). “Here, the Court finds the warrant described … Continue reading