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- Reason: 3 Charlotte Cops Resign After Group Chat Reveals Competition To Arrest the Most Black People
- E.D.Mich.: Second SW for cell phone data retained by govt was valid
- S.D.W.Va.: “Shocking” nature of immigration raid on a Mexican restaurant at lunchtime didn’t warrant suppression
- S.D.N.Y.: Stop on an NYPD I-card showing PC was reasonable
- ID: Drug dog’s touching nose on the car door was not a trespass
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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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)
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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: Stop and frisk
E.D.Mich.: Second SW for cell phone data retained by govt was valid
This is a second motion to suppress a cell phone search, the first having been denied. A copy of the phone remains with the government, the phone having been returned. The first warrant to review the contents was for human … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Frisk of bag was reasonable, too
On the totality, there was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s Terry stop and then a frisk of his bag. United States v. Brooks, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 231135 (E.D. Tenn. Oct. 8, 2026).* “The Court finds that Cruz’s claim fails because, … Continue reading
CA5: Bogus traffic stop can’t support frisk
Plaintiff plausibly alleged a bogus traffic stop and so the frisk lacked reasonable suspicion and violated the Fourth Amendment. This is clearly established law. Rosales v. Lewis, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 29016 (5th Cir. Sep. 22, 2026). (Reason article here.) … Continue reading
GA: No case says SW required to ask for cell phone password
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not arguing that a warrant was required for a request for a cell phone password. No case anywhere says that’s required. Reynolds v. State, 2026 Ga. LEXIS 303 (Sep. 22, 2026). The inventory search of … Continue reading
D.P.R.: 4A violation doesn’t lead to dismissal of indictment
“Defendant cites no authority to the effect that a Fourth Amendment violation requires automatic dismissal of the indictment. Instead, he attempts to tie the alleged violations into his greater theory of outrageous government conduct under Rochin, Russell and Twigg. However, … Continue reading
CA7: Smoking marijuana in public is still an arrestable offense; def’s backpack could be searched incident to it
Smoking marijuana in public is still an arrestable offense, and defendant’s backpack could be searched incident to it. United States v. Worku, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 23239 (7th Cir. Aug. 4, 2026).* Because the stop and frisk was reasonable, the … Continue reading
FL3: Frisk can occur immediately after stop
The stop was with reasonable suspicion, and the frisk can occur immediately. The trial court’s holding it couldn’t has no support in law. State v. Lyles, 2026 Fla. App. LEXIS 5911 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 5, 2026). The CI was … Continue reading
Philadelphia Inquirer: Two Philadelphia police officers stopped hundreds of Black men on the street. Lawyers say the stops were illegal and racially biased.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Two Philadelphia police officers stopped hundreds of Black men on the street. Lawyers say the stops were illegal and racially biased. by Jillian Kramer (“Prosecutors have dismissed at least 24 firearms cases after defense lawyers challenged the legality … Continue reading
AtL: Sotomayor Apologizes For Possibly Hurting Kavanaugh’s Feelings Over The Racial Profiling He Invented
Above the Law: Sotomayor Apologizes For Possibly Hurting Kavanaugh’s Feelings Over The Racial Profiling He Invented by Joe Patrice
VA: Second frisk was still with RS
Defendant’s second frisk was valid, despite a prior frisk not finding anything. “We have no doubt that the situation here presented such circumstances, on the heels of a possible armed robbery with suspects on the scene and the whereabouts of … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: In a false arrest case, the sheriff involved admitted no 4A training
In this false arrest case, the sheriff admitted he had no training in the Fourth Amendment. Harris v. Breeden, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 225584 (M.D. Fla. Nov. 17, 2025). The frisk here was without reasonable suspicion, including the bag defendant … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Frisk that went inside defendant’s pants was unreasonable
A frisk that went inside defendant’s pants was unreasonable. United States v. Davis, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202764 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 20, 2025). When a stop revealed a holster when the defendant got out of the vehicle, a further intrusion … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Handcuffing def resisting patdown didn’t make it an arrest
Officers had reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop and patdown. His resistance justified handcuffs, and it still did not become an arrest until the gun was found. United States v. Gatling, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171825 (D.D.C. Sep. 2, 2025)*:
ATL: a “search so obviously unconstitutional that a ‘high school student’ would know it’s illegal”
ATL: Federal Judge Slams The ‘Lawlessness’ Of Trump’s D.C. Takeover by Kathryn Rubino. These guys think they have Art. II license to violate the law?
OH5: Trial court erred in finding no standing when the state didn’t even raise it
The trial court erred in finding no standing when the state didn’t even raise it. State v. Reynolds, 2025-Ohio-2347, 2025 Ohio App. LEXIS 2332 (5th Dist. July 2, 2025). During the stop, the driver could be ordered out of the … Continue reading
MA: Defendant fled his allegedly illegal stop, so he can’t argue attenuation when he discarded contraband in flight
The trial court erred in applying the attenuation doctrine here. Defendant claimed he was illegally stopped, but he fled and discarded contraband in flight. Commonwealth v. Diaz, 2025 Mass. LEXIS 300 (June 27, 2025). This geofence warrant was supported by … Continue reading
D.N.H.: Extended border search of men on bicycles was valid
Defendant was stopped on a bicycle with backpack and bedroll with another in New Hampshire by a CBP officer who suspected they’d illegally crossed the border. They admitted they had. Suspecting they were involved with human smugglers, the officers searched … Continue reading