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Recent Posts
- 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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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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
W.D.Tenn.: Order to execute on civil default judgment satisfied the warrant clause
The sheriff’s office entered defendant’s home to execute on a civil judgment for attorneys fees in a domestic matter obtained by a default judgment. Firearms were found, but he was a prohibited person. The civil process was a court order … Continue reading
AR: While SW must be issued on affidavit or recorded testimony, questions about no-knock didn’t have to be recorded, especially when no-knock refused
Search warrants must be issued on affidavits or recorded testimony. The issuing judge asked questions about the no-knock entry, and this was separate from probable cause finding. This did not have to be recorded. Besides, the judge denied the no-knock … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Purging an invalid consent search from the affidavit for SW, the remainder shows no PC, so search suppressed
The testimony of the defendants on consent was consistent, detailed, and credible, but the testimony of the officers was vague. Thus, the consent is found invalid. Since the consent search made it into the affidavit for the search warrant, it … Continue reading
CT: City housing admin SW was properly issued; no state constitutional right to adversary proceeding first
City inspectors suspected defendant’s premises to have an illegal third apartment because there were three mailboxes and entrances and other suspicions. He refused an inspection by city officials, so they applied for an administrative search warrant that showed probable cause … Continue reading
SCOTUS: Birchfield v. N.D.: refusing a blood test cannot result in charges
A breath test may be performed incident to an arrest without a warrant. A blood test requires a warrant or exigency. “Motorists may not be criminally punished for refusing to submit to a blood test based on legally implied consent … Continue reading
AZ: Serial SWs were justified by further developments in a serial murder investigation
Defendant was ultimately charged with 74 felonies, including nine murders. His house was subjected to three different search warrants, each specific to one or two crimes. It was reasonable for the police to get another warrant to go back after … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Citing wrong U.S.C. section doesn’t undermine PC if any crime is shown
Citation to the wrong U.S. Code section in a search warrant affidavit doesn’t undermine the probable cause if one can discern that some federal crime has occurred. The affidavit here described mass sale of cell phone apps in violation of … Continue reading
TN: There is no constitutional requirement that the homeowner be identified in a SW
The IP address for the house defendant was staying in was linked to child pornography, and the search warrant for the premises clearly described the single family dwelling. Thus, all the personal property of those associated with the property, except … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: “the qualified common-law right of access to affidavits supporting search warrants when a pre-indictment investigation is underway” applies to defendant, too
Under Baltimore Sun, “the public has a qualified common-law right of access to affidavits supporting search warrants when a pre-indictment investigation is underway.” That includes the defendant. He also gets return of any privileged documents and to copies of others, … Continue reading
PA: Totality and common sense overcomes typo on year in SW application
On the totality and by common sense, the record and the affidavit for the search warrant show that a critical date in the search warrant application had a typographical error as to the year (March 2013 v. March 2014), and … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: “Playpen” website SW invalid as outside USMJ’s jurisdiction and no GFE, but a case contra, too
In the fifth Tor “Dark Net” case involving the child pornography “Playpen” website where the government took over the website and moved it to Virginia, this court, applying Tenth Circuit precedent, finds the USMJ lacked jurisdiction to issue a search … Continue reading
CA6: Clerk issued arrest warrant without judicial authority; not unreasonable unless no PC
That court clerks issue arrest warrants, but not acting as a neutral and detached magistrate, is not a constitutional violation unless the arrest was without probable cause. Plaintiffs, given four amendments to the complaint, never show that the arrest was … Continue reading
CA10: Wrong address in SW didn’t invalidate it where the right place was well described and correctly found
The wrong address did not invalidate the warrant where the right place was well described and correctly found. Goss v. Bd. of County Comm’rs, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 7735 (10th Cir. April 26, 2016):
D.Mass.: NIT warrant in CP investigation that transmitted information to user’s computers violated USMJ statute and Rule 41 and no GFE
In a child porn investigation, the government took over a server with child porn known as “Website A.” “The government used a “Network Investigative Technique (“NIT”) [warrant] that would allow the government covertly to transmit computer code to Website A … Continue reading
CA6: Separate warrant not required to isolate def in his own house in bathroom to talk to him
Police executed a search warrant and took defendant to the bathroom so they could talk to him about becoming a CI. The detention in the apartment and then the bathroom was justified by the probable cause for this search warrant … Continue reading
TN: Failure to leave the SW not a “clerical error” subject to cure or GFE
In 2011, Tennessee adopted the Exclusionary Rule Reform Act with a statutory good faith exception that included “clerical errors.” Failing to leave a copy of the warrant at the place searched or with the householder is not a “clerical error.” … Continue reading
IL: Once officers leave the premises after executing a SW, they need another to come back
Police searched defendant’s house with a warrant, unhandcuffed defendant, and left. Then they returned to search again. A second warrant was required. Just because they could have obtained a second warrant doesn’t mean that was inevitable discovery. [And what’s the … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Failure to swear affiant doesn’t void SW; GFE applies despite magistrate’s mere alleged cursory review
The issuing magistrate’s failure to swear the affiant officer is a judicial failure, not a law enforcement failure, and it doesn’t void the warrant, and there was probable cause. Also, the magistrate’s apparently cursory review of the affidavit still made … Continue reading
TX3: Where there was a magistrate at municipal building 24 hours a day, 2½ mi. away, failure to get warrant voids blood draw
There was a magistrate on duty 24 hours a day at the municipal court building, which was about 2½ miles from the scene of the accident, but the officer made no effort to obtain a search warrant. The statute required … Continue reading