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- CA8: Admission of anonymous tip that led to stop violated Confrontation Clause
- CO: Anonymous report of student smoking pot in school justified backpack search
- CA6: CI’s lie to get into def’s house to video him making a drug deal with the CI didn’t violate 4A
- TN: Def lived in a van left wide open in a public area, but it didn’t belong to him, so no REP as to interior
- VI: Despite ubiquity of cell phones, nexus has to be shown to alleged crime
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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)
--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: Warrant requirement
VT: SW target gets a hearing on whether he gets access to his own SW materials
“In this matter, Jacob Oblak petitioned the superior court for access to an affidavit of probable cause filed in a criminal case and was denied.” The public access to records rule has another rule for exceptions was not properly applied. … Continue reading
MD: Judge sanctioned for, among other things, not properly handling the SW paperwork allowed to accumulate in her office rather than get it matched up and filed
A Baltimore City judge was suspended for six months for multiple things, one of which was not timely matching up 135 search warrants and applications and returns that had accumulated in her office for filing. Also, a staff member turned … Continue reading
IL: 8 month delay in getting SW for seized computers was unreasonable
The state’s eight month delay in seeking a search warrant for defendant’s computers seized under a warrant was unjustified and unreasonable. The state’s reasoning was it didn’t “want to step on the toes of the IRS” and it took the … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Def’s name and address aren’t constitutionally required to be in the SW
Defendant’s 2255 claim that his name and address weren’t in the search warrant doesn’t state any ground for relief because neither is constitutionally required. Lopez v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105807 (C.D. Ill. June 25, 2019). The affidavit … Continue reading
KY: A court order doesn’t need to be titled “search warrant” to be considered one.
A court order doesn’t need to be titled “search warrant” to be considered one. The statute involved says a “search warrant” is required, but any court order issued on probable cause is valid. Whitlow v. Commonwealth, 2019 Ky. LEXIS 205 … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: State judge’s notes of oral testimony for SW may be considered in federal court
Under the “four corners rule,” only the content of the affidavit for search warrant can be considered, but what about unrecorded oral testimony in support? New York procedural law requires the issuing magistrate who considers oral representations in further support … Continue reading
TN: “Process” in a child exploitation statute does not include SWs; legislature could have added SWs if it intended that
“We granted permission to appeal in this case in order to determine whether Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-17-1007, which provides that ‘[n]o process, except as otherwise provided, shall be issued for the violation of [the statutes proscribing the offenses of … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Michael Cohen SW materials ordered released
“The Associated Press, Cable News Network, Inc., The New York Times Company, POLITICO LLC, and WP Co., LLC, d/b/a the Washington Post (collectively, the ‘Media Coalition’) request an order unsealing ‘warrants, applications, supporting affidavits, and returns relating to all search, … Continue reading
PBS: Police are now taking roadside blood samples to catch impaired drivers
PBS: Police are now taking roadside blood samples to catch impaired drivers by Jenni Bergal:
E.D.Cal.: Unsealing of SW materials not granted preindictment
The Sacramento Bee and defendant seek unsealing of search warrant materials in an extradition matter, but the motion is denied. Extradition is different than prosecution. If a criminal prosecution will result in the United States, and it still could, the … Continue reading
TX2: Judge’s failure to swear the SW affiant was fatal despite the fact there was a jurat on the papers that it was under oath
The judge issuing the search warrant didn’t swear the affiant, and the fact that the papers said it was under oath and there is a jurat isn’t enough. Wheeler v. State, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 2233 (Tex. App. – Ft. … Continue reading
IN: An electronic signature on an e-warrant satisfies the oath or affirmation requirement
The officer’s electronic signature on an electronic search warrant application satisfies the search warrant statute and the oath and affirmation requirement. Abd v. State, 2019 Ind. App. LEXIS 125 (Mar. 19, 2019):
WaPo: Cohen SW: Mueller sought Michael Cohen’s emails months before FBI raid, warrants show
WaPo: Cohen SW: Mueller sought Michael Cohen’s emails months before FBI raid, warrants show by Devlin Barrett, Matt Zapotosky and Rosalind S. Helderman:
W.D.La.: A state judge without terroritial jurisdiction doesn’t violate Stored Communications Act
The fact a Louisiana state judge’s warrant under the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2703, was apparently partly outside the judge’s territorial jurisdiction is not a ground to suppress under § 2703. “Article 161(A) states, ‘a judge may issue … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Child sex offense revealed during FISA warrant doesn’t entitle defense to see the papers to attempt to suppress
Defendant is accused of a coercion of a minor for sex that was revealed during a FISA warrant. The AG having certified that revealing the source would harm national security, the defense doesn’t get to see the papers submitted in … Continue reading
GA: A temporary protective order is not a substitute for a SW; they’re also issued on a citizen complaint
A temporary protective order issued on a citizen’s complaint cannot substitute for a search warrant to permit entry into defendant’s property to seize firearms. State v. Burgess, 2019 Ga. App. LEXIS 191 (Mar. 14, 2019):
N.D.Ill.: Chicago Sun-Times gets access to SW affidavit briefly accidently unsealed on PACER under common law right of access to judicial records
The Chicago Sun-Times got access on PACER to a search warrant affidavit that was filed and briefly not sealed. They opened and copied it before it was sealed. Now they seek access to the file. The court finds that the … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Federal telephonic SW not subject to suppression without bad faith
The stop, as told to defendant, was for a traffic violation, but there was reasonable suspicion for drug trafficking considering all that the officers knew. Therefore, using a drug dog was reasonable because a drug investigation was legally supported. Use … Continue reading
TX13: Unsatisified state requirement issuing magistrate’s name be clearly stated warranted suppression
Texas added a fifth requirement to search warrants that the issuing magistrate’s name be clearly legible. It can be incorporated from the affidavit. Here it wasn’t, and the motion to suppress was properly granted and no good faith exception applies. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y. concludes there is a somewhat limited common law right of access to the SW materials in the Michael Cohen case
On the motion of media organizations’ for access to the search warrant materials in the Michael Cohen case, the S.D.N.Y. concludes there is a limited common law right of access to the search warrant materials. Contrary to other courts, the … Continue reading