May 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Archives
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Recent Posts
- NY Columbia Co.: Alleged excessive nervousness when multiple police cars arrive at a traffic stop doesn’t add to RS
- CA4: Backpack dumped in flight in grandmother’s yard was abandoned
- GA: Virtually all-inclusive list of items to be seized wasn’t overbroad
- CA4: Dist.Ct. erred in applying search incident to arrest to suppress bag when inventory was inevitable
- OR: Even if original served warrant wasn’t the one returned, it doesn’t warrant suppression
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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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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
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: § 1983 / Bivens
CA3: State court suppression of search isn’t favorable termination for malicious prosecution case
Just because the evidence was suppressed in plaintiff’s criminal case and then affirmed on appeal doesn’t mean the criminal case was terminated in his favor on the facts. He possessed heroin, and that’s not in dispute, and there was probable … Continue reading
CA7: Civil claim for false arrest or detention on fabricated evidence is 4A claim
“A claim for false arrest or pretrial detention based on fabricated evidence sounds in the Fourth Amendment right to be free from seizure without probable cause.” Patrick v. City of Chicago, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 28380 (7th Cir. Sept. 8, … Continue reading
CA11: Telling ptf to move along wasn’t a 4A seizure
“Here, Watkins did not state a plausible claim that Willson violated his Fourth Amendment rights because Willson did not arrest him, detain him, or restrain his movement. Instead, Willson gave Watkins notice to leave the premises, as required by Florida … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Deputy sheriff stated false imprisonment claim against ATF officers
Plaintiff, a Monroe County deputy sheriff, stated a claim so far for false imprisonment against ATF agents who stopped him for no reason while he was working Hurricane Irma in the Florida Keys. His excessive force claim, however, is dismissed. … Continue reading
CA9: Hernandez bars Bivens claim against false arrest in Thailand U.S. allegedly participated in
“As in Hernandez, ‘it is glaringly obvious that [Hobbs’s] claims involve a new context.’ Id. at 744. And the same extraterritorial concerns that foreclosed a Bivens claim in Hernandez apply here with greater force. Unlike in Hernandez, all of the … Continue reading
IN: CI’s statement he bought from def ten times was a statement against penal interest
The CI was the target of a search, and he snitched off defendant as his source for about ten sales, the most recent the day before. That was a statement against penal interest. State v. Stone, 2020 Ind. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA8: TSA’s officers “satisfy the FTCA’s definition of an investigative or law enforcement officer” for FTCA
“The central question here is whether Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening personnel, known as Transportation Security Officers (TSOs), satisfy the FTCA’s definition of an investigative or law enforcement officer. Holding that they do, we reverse and remand.” “Two of our … Continue reading
CA6: Pleading false information used to get SW overcame QI at this stage
Pleading that defendants used false information to get a search warrant for them. That was enough to get around qualified immunity, and the district court erred in dismissing at this stage. Marvaso v. Sanchez, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 26723 (6th … Continue reading
CA6: Seizure under a SW is not a 5A taking
The consensus of several other circuits is that seizing property under a search warrant is not subject to the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause. See, e.g., Lech v. Jackson, 791 Fed. Appx. 711, 717 (10th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, No. 19-1123, … Continue reading
CA7: Violation of police dept regulations can’t reasonably be a § 1983 claim or 4A violation
Violation of department violations can’t reasonably be a § 1983 claim or violation of the Fourth Amendment. Estate of Biegert v. Molitor, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 24211 (7th Cir. July 31, 2020):
CA9: Nevada JP’s PC determination never finalized has no preclusive effect in § 1983 case
A preliminary determination of probable cause by a justice of the peace that is not appealed is not entitled to preclusive effect under state law. Therefore, plaintiff states a claim for relief for his alleged false arrest despite that. Scafidi … Continue reading
CA9: 4A issues in “travel ban” case: expungement of records unconstitutionally obtained is a remedy
“Addressing plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment search claims, the panel first held that the expungement relief sought by plaintiffs — the expungement of all records unconstitutionally obtained and maintained — was available under the Constitution to remedy the alleged constitutional violations. Because … Continue reading
CA8: Mistake of name in SW affidavit deleted by district court wasn’t material
The affidavit for search warrant here originally used the name “Aaren” but the officer found “Taylor” could be the last name, and the affidavit was changed for that. It turned out that there were two people. The district court properly … Continue reading
NYT: A Timely Case on Police Violence at the Supreme Court
NYT: A Timely Case on Police Violence at the Supreme Court (“The justices will hear arguments in October over whether excessive force claims against the police are barred when the people they shoot get away.”)
CA6: No Bivens remedy for seizure of BoP prisoner’s property
A Bivens remedy should not exist for actions against prisons for seizure of an inmate’s artwork that allegedly violated prison regulations. Courts don’t want to get into monitoring prisons. Callahan v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 22115 … Continue reading
CA4: That Bivens shouldn’t recognize this claim wasn’t raised below and it’s waived
“Here, the officers argue that their case – notwithstanding its similarities to Bivens, which likewise involved a Fourth Amendment claim against federal law enforcement officers – presents a ‘new Bivens context,’ and that allowing it to proceed runs afoul of … Continue reading
CA7: Factual mistake in state court opinion doesn’t justify habeas relief
A factual mistake in a state court’s decision on defendant’s Fourth Amendment claim for the inventory of his property still doesn’t merit habeas relief. Marling v. Littlejohn, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 21616 (7th Cir. July 13, 2020). Plaintiff’s claim for … Continue reading
CA6: Filing a case report with the DA doesn’t make a malicious prosecution action
“Cases after Skousen have continued to apply its holding that filing a case report, taken alone, is insufficient to support a malicious-prosecution claim. See Miller v. Davis, 653 F. App’x 448, 455-56 (6th Cir. 2016) (holding that a detective’s report … Continue reading