Archives
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Recent Posts
- PA: Shining flashlight into hole in a shoebox was a search; there was a REP in the closed box
- CA5: Accidentally shooting the man who disarmed the shooter from a residence was not a constitutional violation
- CA9: False evidence to arrest violates due process
- CA6: The SW affidavit here was thin, but it wasn’t completely bare bones, so GFE applies
- D.Minn.: Extending stop to run ALPR information on car was with RS
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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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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: Qualified immunity
CA3: Cabin search of cruise ship at border non-routine, but QI granted here
This is a suit over a 2008 search at USVI port of the plaintiff’s cabin on the Adventure of the Seas cruise ship. Plaintiff was in the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), a CBP database for intel, from prior travels … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Pocket and backpack search and patdown of 21 students at school for stolen money was with RS so officer gets QI
A school security officer gets qualified immunity for a patdown search of 21 students in a class for allegedly stolen money because there was reasonable suspicion as to all 21. Woods v. Rio Rancho Pub. Schs, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA7: Franks is settled law, and false statements to procure arrest warrant denied qualified immunity
Plaintiff stated a Franks claim that his arrest warrant was based on false evidence and omitted exculpatory evidence. The officer is denied qualified immunity. Rainsberger v. Benner, 17 2521 (7th Cir. Jan. 15, 2019):
SCOTUS: In QI in excessive force cases, a “clearly established” right needs to be defined with specificity
In confronting qualified immunity in excessive force cases, a “clearly established” right needs to be defined with specificity. City of Escondido v. Emmons, 17-1660 (U.S. Jan. 7, 2019) (per curiam) [pdf at 27]:
CA10: Photographing partially undressed child at school for suspected child abuse gets QI
A state case worker who photographed a partially unclothed child at school gets qualified immunity for a special needs search of the child. No SCOTUS or circuit case says that the special needs doctrine does or does not apply here. … Continue reading
CA1: QI in excessive force shooting case; brief cases of reasonableness weren’t helpful
The grant of qualified immunity to the officer shooting defendant during execution of a warrant was not contrary to clearly established law. Comparing cases that show the use of deadly force was reasonable; however, isn’t helpful where excessive force is … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Surreptitiously made recording invalid by Georgia statute is still admissible in federal court
A surreptitiously made recording invalid by Georgia statute is still admissible in federal court. United States v. Kilpatrick, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208799 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 1, 2018), adopted, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208223 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 10, 2018). At … Continue reading
CA5: Officers get QI for body cavity search with SW that turned up nothing
Plaintiff’s pat down at the jail after a valid arrest led officers to believe that he had something protruding from his anus. He denied anything was there, and he refused to consent to removing it. Officers got a search warrant … Continue reading
QI for probation searches
People For the American Way: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears: Two Trump Circuit Judges Rule that There is No Remedy for a Violation of a Homeowner’s Privacy Rights by Elliot Mincberg discussing this case: CA6: Officer spent 90 minutes at plaintiff’s … Continue reading
CA6: Officer spent 90 minutes at plaintiff’s house on the curtilage trying to get him to come out for a probation breath test; that violated 4A but officer gets QI
Plaintiff is a probationer who had a police officer show at his house to get a breath sample per his probation conditions. Despite repeated knocking and use of the police car’s PA system, plaintiff didn’t come to the door and … Continue reading
CA3: Work email subpoena gets QI in § 1983 case; law still evolving. Kerr: Confusing?
A prosecutor and state investigator subpoenaed plaintiff’s work emails from Penn State. They get qualified immunity because there was no clearly established law that the subpoena was invalid. Plaintiff argues the evolving standards of the reasonable expectation of privacy in … Continue reading
CA9: Police supervisor’s alleged after-the-fact acquiescence in an alleged illegal search isn’t a § 1983 claim
A police supervisor’s post-hoc alleged acquiescence that he didn’t participate in an alleged illegal search doesn’t state a claim against the supervisor. Hunt v. Davis, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 26265 (9th Cir. Sep. 17, 2018). The officers corroborated enough of … Continue reading
techdirt: Qualified Immunity Contradicts Congressional Intent. It’s Time To Kill It Off.
techdirt: Qualified Immunity Contradicts Congressional Intent. It’s Time To Kill It Off. by Tim Cushing:
CA11: Tasering elderly man suffering a severe hypoglycemic episode five times and while trying to comply was excessive
“Mr. Glasscox, [an apparently elderly man] who lives with Type 1 diabetes, suffered a severe hypoglycemic episode while driving his pickup truck on Interstate 59 South near the City of Argo, Alabama. His condition caused him to begin driving erratically. … Continue reading
CA5: 2 am knock-and-talk that led to alleged consent and excessive force claim gets no QI
2 a.m. knock and talk may have been unreasonable, and summary judgment for officers is reversed. Plaintiff closed her door and they insisted upon entry. The officers were investigating whether plaintiff’s son committed trespass that night. Plaintiff also stated a … Continue reading
CA4: Collective knowledge doctrine doesn’t require reporting back to the source
The CI’s information viewed under the totality provided reasonable suspicion for the stop of defendant. [Defendant’s approach was divide and conquer the facts.] The collective knowledge doctrine does not require the stopping and arresting officer keep the officer providing the … Continue reading
CA6: SWAT team surrounding a house for a knock-and-talk violates 4A
Sending the SWAT team to surround a house for a knock-and-talk violated the Fourth Amendment. Having officers in the backyard for officer safety may serve that function, but it’s still a violation of the curtilage under the Fourth Amendment. There … Continue reading
W.D.Va.: Stopping ptf for giving cop “the finger” violates clearly established 4A law
Stopping plaintiff merely for giving a police officer the finger violates clearly established Fourth Amendment law. Clark v. Coleman, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136749 (W.D. Va. Aug. 14, 2018):
CA7: Searching wrong apt on ambiguous SW (apt 1 where there were 1A & 1B) gets qualified immunity here
When the officer arrived at plaintiff’s address with a search warrant for apartment 1, he instead found apartments 1A and 1B. The officers attempted to clear up the ambiguity before the search, and they searched 1A finding nothing, and the … Continue reading
CA8: Ignoring exculpatory evidence before a child abuse seizure of children denies QI to officers
After the first round of discovery, officers who seized children from a home on a bizarre and unsubstantiated allegation from a sibling don’t yet get qualified immunity. “Thus, although the investigators went to the home with the intent to remove … Continue reading