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- CA3: Ptf was arrested on an apparent but recalled warrant, then officers confirmed it and let him go; the arrest was reasonable
- N.D.Ohio: Failure to serve state SW within state mandated time not 4A violation
- NY1: Gunshot through floor from apartment above was exigency
- Reason: Most Civil Forfeiture Victims Never See the Inside of a Courtroom
- CA8: Admission of anonymous tip that led to stop violated Confrontation Clause
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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)
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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: Qualified immunity
CA8: Unnecessary prolonged handcuffing of ptf overcame QI; if there was a reason for it, it had long passed
Plaintiff overcame qualified immunity here because he was unnecessarily left handcuffed without any objective reason for it. There was no reasonable suspicion. Haynes v. Minnehan, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 28550 (8th Cir. Sept. 21, 2021). In this prison search case, … Continue reading
OH12: Second patdown in crotch area by male officer wasn’t unreasonable
A female officer patted this male defendant down, but she did not go around the crotch area. For officer safety, a male officer followed up and did. This was reasonable, and the contraband was found by plain feel. State v. … Continue reading
NY Times: If the Police Lie, Should They Be Held Liable? Often the Answer Is No.
NY Times: If the Police Lie, Should They Be Held Liable? Often the Answer Is No. by Shaila Dewan (“Federal agents and police officers who work with them are often immune from lawsuits, even for serious rights violations. The Supreme … Continue reading
CA11: Ga. Ct. App. case on point not “clearly established law”
“Orr argues, nevertheless, that it was clearly established that the Deputies could not search him and seize his property pursuant to the order, citing State v. Burgess, 826 S.E.2d 352 (Ga. App. 2019). We disagree. For starters, Burgess is an … Continue reading
CA11: Two on deadly force in shooting at cars: one reasonable, one a fact dispute
Officer shooting at a car driving toward him acted reasonably. “Officer Brown reasonably perceived that his life was in danger when the Pontiac shifted into reverse. Redwine had led the police on a high-speed chase through commercial and residential areas … Continue reading
D.N.J.: No REP in one’s name
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in one’s name. Livingstone v. Hugo Boss Store, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165848 (D.N.J. Sept. 1, 2021). Officers working off duty security came upon decedent’s car at night parked across parking spaces, and … Continue reading
ABAJ: Chemerinsky: The Supreme Court has done a poor job protecting against police abuse of power and racism
ABAJ: Chemerinsky: The Supreme Court has done a poor job protecting against police abuse of power and racism by Erwin Chemerinsky:
CA6: Parking enforcement chalking not a valid administrative search but QI immunity applies
“The City of Saginaw routinely chalked car tires to enforce its parking regulations. In our prior opinion, we held that doing so is a search for Fourth Amendment purposes, and that ‘based on the pleadings stage of this litigation, … … Continue reading
ID: Def has burden of proving standing and can’t rely on state seeking to prove he didn’t have standing
Defendant had the burden of showing standing, and he couldn’t rely on the state not proving he didn’t have standing. Wilson v. State, 2021 Ind. App. LEXIS 264 (Aug. 24, 2021). Finding that defendant was on federal supervised release was … Continue reading
CA11: New facts of alleged illegal search already ruled on not appropriate for successor habeas
Defendant’s attempt at a successor habeas on four grounds includes one that there is new evidence that he was wrongfully arrested. That was previously addressed before the new evidence claim, and it’s denied. “ An applicant cannot create a new … Continue reading
CA7: Without a triggering condition, this was not an anticipatory warrant
Despite defendant’s argument, this was not an anticipatory search warrant. There was no triggering condition, and it was issued with probable cause. United States v. Calligan, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 23402 (7th Cir. Aug. 6, 2021). There clearly was reasonable … Continue reading
UT: Information omitted from SW affidavit added in still shows PC
The omitted information still leaves probable cause. Here, the warrant was for cell tower location information to connect defendant to the burglary of the victims’ house while they slept. State v. Gonzalez, 2021 UT App 83, 2021 Utah App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA8: The facts before the officers showed exigency to enter the house on a domestic call
The officers had a reasonable basis for entering defendant’s house without a warrant. “The officers were dispatched to the scene of a domestic disturbance. The first responding officer observed a child in an upstairs window acting excitedly and gesturing at … Continue reading
CA11: District Court’s § 1983 SJ credibility determinations on PC require reversal
“Because the District Court weighed testimony and made credibility determinations, it erroneously found that Officer Williams had arguable probable cause to detain Ms. Khoury. We must therefore vacate the District Court’s summary judgment order holding that Officer Williams had qualified … Continue reading
CA8: Officers had PC to arrest despite later investigation casting doubt and the criminal case getting dismissed
Officers had probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest for a sexual assault charge based on the totality of information, even though charges were later dismissed. Further later investigation cast doubt, but the officers weren’t reckless. Walz v. Randall, 2021 U.S. App. … Continue reading
ID: Automobile exception doesn’t apply to purse that used to be in car before PC developed
Defendant’s purse was not in the car at the time probable cause arose for the automobile exception to apply. Therefore, it did not apply to her purse. State v. Maloney, 2021 Ida. LEXIS 117 (June 28, 2021). “It is unnecessary … Continue reading