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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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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
CA11: The beating of ptf to “subdue” him after flight from officer was reasonable
Defendant fled from an officer reaching into his truck to stop him from leaving. Ultimately he wrecked his truck. Despite his desire to surrender, “he noticed a small retention pond and — for reasons he asserts are unknown even to … Continue reading
CA4: Without emotional distress claim, knock-and-announce violation worth only nominal damages
A knock-and-announce violation is clearly established law, so no qualified immunity. But here, without an emotional distress claim, it’s only worth nominal damages, so the damages should be remitted. Here, there was a death of another, but plaintiff waived any … Continue reading
OH2: Anonymous tip of shooting was corroborated enough by witnesses at scene
The anonymous tip defendant was involved in a shooting was corroborated by people at the scene who pointed to defendant’s house and blood drops outside, and it led to a fair inference that the shooter or a victim was inside. … Continue reading
CA6: Prolonged Tasering known to be excessive force that causes brain injury
Tasering plaintiff’s ward twice for 5 and 21 seconds violated clearly established law and created an unnecessary risk of the brain injury he suffered. It was clear to the officer that applying a Taser for 15 seconds or more was … Continue reading
CA10: An arrest during a larceny sting where a backpack was left near an ATM was not in violation of clearly established law; qualified immunity applies
An arrest during a larceny sting where a backpack was left near an Albuquerque ATM was not in violation of clearly established law, so qualified immunity applies. Quinn v. Young, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 3959 (10th Cir. March 13, 2015)*:
CA6: Arrest of school teacher for sex abuse of student was not based on “reasonably trustworthy” information; false arrest case can proceed
School teacher’s arrest for anally sodomizing a student at school arguably lacked probable cause, and the student’s claims were not properly and fully investigated before the arrest after the story became more and more implausible. The student gave an implausible … Continue reading
Does the TSA run warrants on all passengers? Maybe
Defendant’s consent to search a box when he was in custody in a holding cell in Seattle airport’s jail was shown to be voluntary. He said “Go ahead. It’s just helicopter parts.” Heroin and meth were found in a radio … Continue reading
CA10: Qualified immunity, clearly established law, and tasering as excessive force
Qualified immunity, clearly established law, and tasering as excessive force. Aldaba v. Pickens, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 1822 (10th Cir. February 4, 2015): B. Clearly Established Law Having held that the alleged facts regarding the initial taser strike would be … Continue reading
CA5: Use of deadly force to stop a fleeing driver with officer on running board was objectively reasonable
An officer attempted to arrest the driver of a vehicle on a warrant, but the driver refused to submit and drove off, with the officer on the running board. Ultimately, the officer shot and killed the driver. The use of … Continue reading
CA7: Detention of a minor based on a report from a friend she was suicidal was reasonable
This minor’s § 1983 suit alleges a Fourth Amendment violation when she was taken to a hospital and subjected to a mental health examination based a report from a school friend that she had attempted to kill herself. The police … Continue reading
Cal.4: DV improper in state § 1983 case; 14 detention of guests at house at time of raid was likely unreasonable, and no QI
Plaintiff had a big annual Halloween party at his Orange County mansion that the neighbors always complained about. This one was called “Casino Night,” so the OCSO decided to get a search warrant and raid the place with the SWAT … Continue reading
OH2: Jaywalking supports a stop but not a frisk
Jaywalking supports a stop but not a frisk. State v. Millerton, 2015-Ohio-34, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 31 (2d Dist. January 9, 2015). Probable cause cuts off a state malicious prosecution and § 1983 action. Henderson v. City of Euclid, 2015-Ohio-15, … Continue reading
CA5: Knock-and-announce still lives: No § 1983 qualified immunity for violation of rule
After discussing at length the purposes of the knock-and-announce rule and how well established it is, the court finds that the officer was not entitled to qualified immunity for a violation of the rule for entry into plaintiffs’ home without … Continue reading
CA10: PC isn’t viewed in hindsight; officers had qualified immunity for believing car contained marijuana, even though it didn’t
Plaintiff sued two Wyoming state troopers for a search of his car because they thought they could smell marijuana with a masking smell. After patting plaintiff and his passenger down, the car was searched, and nothing was found. The case … Continue reading
CA6: Violation of some regulations may be “sloppy police work” that doesn’t make out a constitutional violation
There was probable cause for this § 1983 plaintiff’s arrest. While there may have been some violations of police regulations in how the controlled buy went down, a little “sloppy police work” that doesn’t make out a constitutional violation. Womack … Continue reading
In OR, driver arrested for suspended DL can hand off purse to passenger without search
When defendant was stopped and arrested for driving on a suspended DL, she refused consent to search her purse and wanted it given to the passenger for safekeeping. The police should have honored that request. The search of the purse … Continue reading
CA3: Pointing a gun at a two unarmed men was objectively reasonable
Pointing a gun at a two unarmed men was objectively reasonable for § 1983 purposes. There was reasonable suspicion for a stop and the officer felt threatened until he knew all that was going on. Stiegel v. Peters Twp., 2014 … Continue reading
CA8: Including false information and excluding important exculpatory information in an affidavit for arrest denies the officer qualified immunity
Including false information and excluding important exculpatory information in an affidavit for arrest denies the officer qualified immunity. Williams v. City of Alexander, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 23023 (8th Cir. December 8, 2014), summary from the court: A reasonable jury … Continue reading