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- 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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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
CA5: Ptf in a 4A § 1983 case has to plead violation of a “clearly established right” to get over QI in complaint
Although an arrestee adequately alleged that members of a parish council and sheriff’s office maliciously conspired to prosecute him under an unconstitutional statute in retaliation for online comments about council members, his right was not clearly established because there was … Continue reading
CA9: § 1983 Franks violation: Ignoring alleged false statements still leaves PC
A search warrant was issued for alleged violations of the building code. Ignoring any alleged false statements that led to issuance of the search warrant, there still was probable cause. Gunnels v. Kenny, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 13204 (6th Cir. … Continue reading
CA11: Punching ptf in the face because of apparent threat to officer was QI
Punching plaintiff in the face was objectively reasonable on these facts, and the officer is entitled to qualified immunity. “Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Avery, Davis saw a brawl break out between two groups of young … Continue reading
CA3: Ptfs dismissed their 4A claims to appeal 1A claim of right to video police in action, and they prevailed
There is a First Amendment right to video or photograph the police doing their jobs. Plaintiffs were arrested for doing that, despite a city policy saying it was legal, and the district court ruled against them on the First Amendment … Continue reading
CA5: Video of police shooting shows it was justified, so QI shown
Parents alleged Fourth Amendment violations under § 1983 in the fatal shooting of their son by a police officer. Based upon a bystander’s video of the incident, a reasonable officer in defendant’s position could have concluded that the son posed … Continue reading
SCOTUS: Bivens actions must be extended by Congress, and QI applies
Bivens actions beyond what the Supreme Court has already found must be found by Congress and not the courts. Qualified immunity applies as in 1983 actions: “The qualified-immunity inquiry turns on the ‘objective legal reasonableness’ of the official’s acts, Harlow … Continue reading
CA7: No qualified immunity for seizure of pft’s vehicles from his yard by code enforcement officers
The seizure of plaintiff’s vehicles off his property without an opportunity to defend against it was an unreasonable seizure. Defendants don’t get qualified immunity. There was no action in court for plaintiff to resort to, so Rooker-Feldman doesn’t apply. Hamilton … Continue reading
CA8: Warrant was broad, but not constitutionally overbroad for QI under Messerschmidt
An anonymous tip corroborated by a jailhouse telephone call showed probable cause to believe plaintiff was in possession of a pet deer in violation of state game regulations. A search warrant was issued that was broader than just that one … Continue reading
CA8: A 1 in 11 chance homeowner had CP on computer was enough for qualified immunity; search turned up nothing and he lost job then home
Child pornography was able to be downloaded from plaintiff’s IP address, so Minot police got a search warrant for plaintiff’s address, which appeared to be a single family dwelling. When they got there, however, they learned that 11 people lived … Continue reading
MI: Taking ptf’s photo and prints after a valid arrest did not violate 4A
The taking of plaintiff’s photograph and fingerprints after an apparently valid arrest was not a clearly established violation of the Fourth Amendment where he was innocent of a crime. Plaintiff did not contest his arrest, but he contended that the … Continue reading
CA11: Shooting of ptf during drug raid was reasonable and subject to QI
This § 1983 case arose from a shooting death by police during execution of a drug search warrant. The pre-search briefing told the officers that the suspect inside was involved in drug dealing and was likely armed, so a no-knock … Continue reading
CA11: A police dog can’t be sued for excessive force under § 1983 or for negligence under state law
A police dog can’t be sued under § 1983, although the handler can. Here, the handler has qualified immunity for this use of force. Jones v. Fransen, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8816 (11th Cir. May 19, 2017):
CA6: Officer arresting on warrant for failure to perform community service that was mistakenly issued had QI
The officer executing a warrant that should not have been issued by the court in the first place for plaintiff’s failure to perform his community service had qualified immunity. Beckham v. City of Euclid, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8453 (6th … Continue reading
CA10: Successful suppression of evidence is not a “favorable outcome” for malicious prosecution purposes against the prosecutor; QI granted
Successful suppression of evidence is not a “favorable outcome” for malicious prosecution purposes against the prosecutor. It doesn’t show actual innocence. Margheim v. Buljko, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 7421 (10th Cir. April 27, 2017):
VA: PC for arrest for reckless driving wasn’t stale after three hours
The officer saw defendant recklessly driving, but wasn’t able to stop him. Staleness for arrest for that did not dissipate within three hours before he saw defendant again. Hairston v. Commonwealth, 2017 Va. App. LEXIS 99 (April 11, 2017) (see … Continue reading
CA7: Officer did not violate 4A in reasonably handcuffing road rage suspect until RS dissipated
The district court erred in not granting summary judgment to the officer in this § 1983 case for his use of handcuffs on the plaintiff in his mid-60’s. There was reasonable suspicion for his stop as a suspect in a … Continue reading
Two on qualified immunity
It was not sufficiently clear that the officers’ actions here in aiding a repossession violated the Fourth Amendment, so they get qualified immunity. “However, there is sufficient daylight between the Officers’ conduct here and the conduct in Cochran and Hensley … Continue reading
CA11: Nolo plea establishes PC for arrest; excessive force can be shown by the injuries
Plaintiff’s nolo plea established probable cause for his arrest. Plaintiff’s excessive force claim, however, is established by clearly established law and the district court erred in finding it was de minimus. It appears that plaintiff was handcuffed and compliant but … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: QI granted city for seizure of liquor license under IL law after a bar erupted into a large fight
Plaintiff ran a bar in the Chicago suburbs, and police got 911 calls about a large fight inside. When they arrived and sorted it out, the Mayor, under the authority of the Illinois liquor control law, ordered the liquor license … Continue reading
CA8: RS too fact bound to lend itself to overcoming QI defense in § 1983 case
Plaintiff suppressed his search in state court for lack of reasonable suspicion, but he can’t get over the qualified immunity hurdle to sue the officer for the detention. The reasonable suspicion was thin at best, and, instead of nervousness, the … Continue reading