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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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--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
OR: Late night stop of apparently intoxicated driver permits officer to ask about weapons
During a stop for suspected DUI late at night, the officer can legitimately ask the defendant whether he is armed. State v. Miller, 363 Ore. 374, 2018 Ore. LEXIS 602 (July 26, 2018):
CA3: What is a “Rodriquz moment” in dicta, not even decided
A long and interesting, albeit ultimately unnecessary, discussion of Rodriquez and what is a “Rodriguez moment.” There was reasonable suspicion on the totality for a longer detention. United States v. Green, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 20655 (3d Cir. July 25, … Continue reading
OH & MO: Erratic driving justifies stop
Defendant’s stop was justified, and, during the stop, probable cause developed that he was operating under the influence. State v. Dallman, 2018-Ohio-2670, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 2890 (12th Dist. July 9, 2018).* Defendant’s erratic driving of swerving within his lane … Continue reading
CA9: Def’s 22 minute detention was reasonable because he wouldn’t properly ID himself
Defendant’s 22-minute detention was reasonable because he was lying about who he was, and officers had a right to know. United States v. Thompson, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 18603 (9th Cir. July 9, 2018). Defendant’s vehicle was outside a house … Continue reading
D.Minn.: USMJ’s order to disclose all CIs is overbroad; not if they aren’t trial witnesses
The USMJ’s order to disclose all information about the informants was overbroad because it included informant’s who are not trial witnesses. It is limited to those who are trial witnesses. United States v. Bias, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112605 (D. … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Pole camera surveillance was troubling, but for def being on supervised release with a reduced REP
Pole camera surveillance of defendant may have been intrusive, and the court is sensitive to the ability of a pole camera to invade on privacy, but this case turns on defendant being on supervised release with a lower expectation of … Continue reading
DE: PC and nexus to search def’s house came from his leaving to do a drug deal on a bicycle and then coming right back
There was probable cause and nexus to search defendant’s house because he left the house on a bicycle to conduct a drug delivery and returned. Spencer v. State, 2018 Del. LEXIS 296 (June 26, 2018). There was probable cause to … Continue reading
IN: A reasonable person in def’s position would not have felt detained and could have asked for his partially blocked car to be let out
The officer was inquiring of suspicious persons but did not yet have reasonable suspicion. Defendant’s car was partially blocked in, and the inquiries weren’t directed at him. A reasonable person in his position would have felt he could have asked … Continue reading
PA: Victim was robbed of his iPhone and police tracked it to def by “Find My iPhone” app
The victim here was robbed of his iPhone and backpack, and it happened under a streetlight so he got a good look at the perpetrators. The victim told the officer his cell phone number, and the officer tracked it with … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Consent irrelevant to a parole search
Defendant was reasonably subjected to a parole search, and withdrawal of his consent was irrelevant. United States v. Perales, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99191 (D. Idaho June 11, 2018). The officer had reasonable suspicion to detain defendant for being a … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Declining to interact with an officer is not RS
Defendant’s declining to interact with the officer and trying to avoid him is not reasonable suspicion because people have a right to do that. United States v. Brown, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97602 (N.D. Ga. May 10, 2018). Defendant abandoned … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Gant didn’t bar a plain view of the interior of def’s car when he was handcuffed on ground
Defendant was arrested for drug dealing, and he was handcuffed on the ground near the car. The search of the car here was based on seeing a gun in the car in plain view, so Gant doesn’t bar the search. … Continue reading
DE: Facts escalated from speeding to RS of DUI leading to SW for blood draw
Defendant’s stop started with speeding 85 in a 50, and the reasonable suspicion progressed to probable cause he was under the influence. “The Court also finds that Mr. Kamwani’s performance on the field sobriety tests, the odor of alcohol, the … Continue reading
AK: Def’s admission he had a knife during traffic stop justified a further patdown
Defendant was stopped for having studded tires after May 1st, and another warrant surfaced when checking on him. Despite the officer’s discretion to issue a summons or arrest, he still had the authority to conduct a patdown if there was … Continue reading
NYLJ: ‘DeBour’ Faces Increased Criticism: Where Do We Go From Here?
NYLJ: ‘DeBour’ Faces Increased Criticism: Where Do We Go From Here? By Barry Kamins: In this article on Criminal Law and Procedure, Barry Kamins looks at criticism of ‘People v. DeBours,’ the case establishing the level of intrusion allowed during … Continue reading
D.Minn.: An alert of a vehicle wanted in a bank robbery doesn’t need the LPN to provide RS
Defendants’ vehicle looked like one wanted in a recent bank robbery, and officers sped up to get closer, and the vehicle was speeding through a residential area. Aside from speeding, officers had reasonable suspicion they were involved in the bank … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: RS applied to the car def got into despite the fact he wasn’t there when an occupant hid a gun
Officers had reasonable suspicion to conduct a protective weapons search of the car defendant came out of a motel and got into. While watching the car, before defendant was there, officers saw a juvenile hiding a gun under the floor … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: RS present for protective weapons search of car under Long
There was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop, and that included a protective weapons search for a firearm under Michigan v. Long, which produced one. United States v. Caraang, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81814 (W.D. Wash. May 15, 2018).* In the … Continue reading