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- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
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- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- 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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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)
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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
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
CA11: SW was not bare bones and a reasonable officer could rely on it; therefore, qualified immunity
A search warrant issued for plaintiffs’ place based on a “13 year” drug investigation that led to trace evidence of drug usage in the basement. The charges filed were ultimately dismissed. The officers were qualifiedly immune because of the issuance … Continue reading
LA2: State loses a cocaine search issue, apparently by not arguing all alternative grounds
A car was pulled over and two men fled from it. A third in the back seat was asleep or passed out, and he was awakened by officers banging on the windows. When he awoke, he refused to show his … Continue reading
CA4: Delousing jail inmates was reasonable strip search under Florence
Delousing male jail inmates by same sex guards was subject to qualified immunity as to them. As to injunctive relief against the agency, it is premature without further evidence being taken, and it appears reasonable as a strip search under … Continue reading
SCOTUS per curiam decides a not front door knock-and-talk on qualified immunity
Officers didn’t go to the front door for a knock-and-announce and they didn’t anybody. The law was not clearly established at the time. The homeowner sued under § 1983. SCOTUS per curiam grants the officers qualified immunity without full briefing. … Continue reading
CA3: Where search was limited, alleged overbreadth of SW was less important
The affidavit for the search warrant showed probable cause, so the search can’t be suppressed. Moreover, the officer acted reasonably and gets qualified immunity. The search itself wasn’t as broad as the warrant was argued to allow, so the search … Continue reading
CA2: Entry into curtilage and shooting family dog in front of child not based on exigency
Officers entered the curtilage without a warrant or exigent circumstances and shot plaintiff’s dog in front of his 12 year old daughter. The verdict for the defendant officers is reversed and remanded for trial because they didn’t show reasons for … Continue reading
CA5: Threatened suicide is exigency
A threatened suicide is an exigent circumstance for an entry, following other circuits. Rice v. Reliastar Life Ins. Co., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 20581 (5th Cir. October 27, 2014): The Rice Plaintiffs argue that the exigent circumstances exception to the … Continue reading
CA9: No qualified immunity to handcuffing ADHD child who wouldn’t leave school grounds
Officers were entitled to qualified immunity with regard to an unconstitutional seizure of a minor child with attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder who was sitting quietly but was unresponsive and refused to leave a school playground, since a reasonable officer would … Continue reading
CA8: Arguable PC means qualified immunity against false arrest
There was arguable probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest, so the officers get qualified immunity. Trevino v. Benton County, Arkansas, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 19166 (8th Cir. October 8, 2014).* The police obtained separate search warrants for marijuana and a cell … Continue reading
CA11: Arguable PC for arrest gives qualified immunity
Arguable probable cause for a warrantless arrest and then a valid search warrant gives qualified immunity to the officers involved. Ultimately the DA decided not to prosecute the plaintiffs, and it was a close case for prosecution. Roddy v. City … Continue reading
CA11: Officer denied qualified immunity for slamming passive arrestee to pavement
“We have repeatedly ruled that a police officer violates the Fourth Amendment, and is denied qualified immunity, if he or she uses gratuitous and excessive force against a suspect who is under control, not resisting, and obeying commands. See, e.g., … Continue reading
CA11: Courthouse security guard denied qualified immunity for twisting arm of a female lawyer on the phone
Plaintiff in this § 1983 case was a lawyer entering the Fulton County Courthouse. She put her briefcase and purse on the conveyor belt for the x-ray machine, but she set off the metal detector. She was instructed to take … Continue reading
CA9: A roving game warden stop not a proper administrative search
“We must decide whether a suspicionless roving automobile stop of commercial fishers made while they drive on a public highway to investigate compliance with Washington fish and game laws constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure within the meaning of the … Continue reading
CA2: Whether to employ a SWAT team entitled to qualified immunity; rest of raid not
The decision to employ a SWAT team is subject to qualified immunity, but the actions that follow here aren’t. The raid here was overkill [my word], and the officers do not get qualified immunity for how it was conducted because … Continue reading