September 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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Recent Posts
- 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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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)
ACLU on privacy
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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: Nexus
S.D.Tex.: SW for entire cell phone in auto burglary is suppressed as both without nexus and overbroad
An arrest warrant doesn’t give authority to search a cell phone with the arrest. After a search warrant was issued for the phone for the crime of auto burglary, there is no nexus to the crime, and the search warrant … Continue reading
PA: Officer safety was not presumed to be exigency where def did nothing to warrant fear he’d use a weapon by merely refusing consent and walking away
Exigency of officer safety did not permit officers to search defendant’s garage. They came without a search warrant to arrest a third person. Defendant denied anyone else was there, refused to consent to a search, and turned and walked away. … Continue reading
DE: Vague CI information and lack of nexus to def’s home required suppression
There was no substantial basis for a finding of probable cause for this search warrant. Not only were the credibility and reliability of the informant questionable, but the tip was overly broad and made no mention of defendant’s residence and … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Health care fraud SW also reached def’s home because related mail was received there
In a health care fraud case, the fact some mail within the scheme came to defendant’s home was nexus for the search warrant including the home. “All of the items identified in the indictment were tied to or related to … Continue reading
D.Md.: Recorded call about a murder was PC for search of phone for evidence of the call
A recorded telephone call with the defendant allegedly discussing a murder supported probable cause to search his cell phone for evidence of the call. United States v. Worthy, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56275 (D. Md. Apr. 2, 2019). Defendant was … Continue reading
DE: No nexus shown between cell phone and the crime under investigation
The search warrant application didn’t show a nexus between the phone and the crime under investigation. State v. Reese, 2019 Del. Super. LEXIS 140 (Mar. 18, 2019):
D.Me.: Nexus for a cell phone SW can be based on officer’s stated experience
In addition to specific facts, officers may state their experience that nexus in a cell phone can be found as to certain crimes, and courts should credit that if reasonable. United States v. Fogg, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38498 (D. … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Officers falsely swore def’s friend “lived or stayed there”; she visited after a small heroin deal, and there was no PC at all
Defendant was visited by a friend after an $80 heroin sale. There was no nexus to defendant’s house by the friend who’d only visited a few times over a long period of time. The police also falsely swore that she … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: A customer leaving def’s house with a lot of drugs was nexus to def’s house
“Similarly, in this case, Charles Williams was discovered with a large amount of narcotics immediately after leaving the Target Apartment. … This incident alone is enough to establish a nexus to the Apartment to justify a warrant to search the … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: No nexus shown for Facebook SW, but GFE applied
The District Court disagrees with the USMJ that there was probable cause and nexus for a search warrant for defendant’s Facebook page. But, reasonable judges disagree, and that is enough for the court to conclude that the good faith exception … Continue reading
CA7: SW affidavit failed to show nexus, but it was close enough for GFE
The affidavit for a search warrant for a third person’s home where defendant spent a lot of time was deficient on showing nexus and defendant’s connection to it, but it otherwise showed probable cause. Actually, right after three controlled buys, … Continue reading
GA: Motion for a Franks hearing on arrest warrant mooted by indictment
Defendant’s motion for a Franks hearing on his arrest warrant was mooted by his indictment. Young v. State, 2019 Ga. LEXIS 55 (Feb. 4, 2019). Defendant was a sheriff’s deputy, and he was suspected of sexual misconduct with a minor. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Govt showed nexus to def’s cell phones in vehicle involved in a shooting
Defendant’s vehicle was factually connected to a shooting incident, and that gave probable cause to search it under the automobile exception. There was nexus to defendant’s cell phones found in the vehicle to get a separate search warrant for them. … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: Merely living in a house and being alleged to be a criminal doesn’t create nexus; more is required, and the govt had it here
It is settled in this circuit that merely because a person lives in a house doesn’t create a nexus to the house for crime; more is required. Here, the government gets over that hurdle. Defendant was overheard talking about having … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Cell phone pings before controlled buys provided nexus to search house
Defendant’s going directly home after several controlled buys as shown by cell phone pings was sufficient to show nexus to his home for a search warrant for drugs. “Probable cause exists in this case because of the continual and ongoing … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def used two houses, and his drug operation was from one; the SW for the second was still valid under GFE despite lack of nexus
Defendant conducted a drug operation from what the court called the 1st Premises, and he lived in the 2nd Premises, apparently avoiding keeping any drugs there. When he went out to do a drug deal, he’d stop at the 1st … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Officer’s experience shown in SW affidavit that large scale drug dealers keep it at home can be nexus
Nexus is shown to defendant’s home; the high level of his alleged drug dealing coupled with the officer’s experience that it is reasonably likely that he’d have drugs in the home. United States v. Rivera-Figueroa, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8805 … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Affidavit for SW of home garage also showed nexus to house in car theft operation
This investigation into a stolen car ring operated from a home garage showed nexus to the house, too. “The affidavit by Officer Chappell is clear and thorough and reflects months of information gathering. The affidavit explains the nexus between the … Continue reading
D.Minn.: The use of electronic devices in a fraud case essentially establishes nexus to def’s home
Nexus to the home in a fraud case was shown. “The affidavit averred that: the unauthorized accesses at the Postal Service were linked to a Dell computer bought on eBay by a user whose recovery email and phone number matched … Continue reading