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- CA6: Knowing passcode to cell phone shows common authority over it to consent
- VI: Smell of MJ no longer PC in VI since legalization
- Reason: 3 Charlotte Cops Resign After Group Chat Reveals Competition To Arrest the Most Black People
- E.D.Mich.: Second SW for cell phone data retained by govt was valid
- S.D.W.Va.: “Shocking” nature of immigration raid on a Mexican restaurant at lunchtime didn’t warrant suppression
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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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)
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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
CA9: Pro se ptf’s allegation that the officers “beat the crap out of” him was not too vague and conclusory to support an excessive force claim
“[T]he allegation that the officers ‘beat the crap out of’ plaintiff was [not] too vague and conclusory to support a legally cognizable claim. The panel held that plaintiff’s use of a colloquial, shorthand phrase made plain that he was alleging … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: If you’re suing over a SW issued on false allegations, somebody has to put the SW papers in the MSJ pleadings; nobody did, so denied
This is an excessive force and illegal search claim where plaintiff claimed her husband was unreasonable killed in violation of the Fourth Amendment and state law. It also included a claim that the search warrant was obtained by judicial deception. … Continue reading
LR article: Manuel v. City of Joliet: Pursuing a Claim Under the Fourth Amendment
Manuel v. City of Joliet: Pursuing a Claim Under the Fourth Amendment by Lynda Hercules Charleson, 5 Tex. A&M L. Rev. Arguendo 47 (2017). Abstract:
CA9: Ptf refused entry to house on a domestic call, and police broke in and tasered him; grant of QI reversed
Plaintiff refused entry to the police on a domestic call. They broke in and tasered him on the floor. The district court erred in granting qualified immunity to the officers. He refused entry, which was his right, and this case … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Ordering man to crawl out of hotel room before entry was reasonable where officer had arrest warrants for occupant
Defendant was ordered out of a hotel room for officer safety by crawling out. Viewed as a Terry stop, it lacked reasonable suspicion [so why decide it?] but the officers were there with arrest warrants, and that was reasonable under … Continue reading
CA9: Federal civil suit seeking to revisit Guam Superior Court PC determination barred by abstention
A federal suit to have the Guam Superior Court revisit its probable cause determination in a criminal case is barred by Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Santos v. Superior Court of Guam, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 3433 (9th Cir. Feb. 14, 2018).
CA4: Handcuffing a compliant child at school violated 4A, but officer gets QI
A police officer’s handcuffing a compliant child after a discussion in the school office violated the child’s Fourth Amendment rights. The event was long past with no risk of violence being shown by the child by the time that happened. … Continue reading
CA5: “The mistaken execution of a valid search warrant on the wrong premises does not automatically violate the Fourth Amendment”; officer gets qualified immunity
“The mistaken execution of a valid search warrant on the wrong premises does not automatically violate the Fourth Amendment.” The officers get qualified immunity for getting out when they discovered it. Thomas v. Williams, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 2478 (5th … Continue reading
CA9: Taking children from parents without exigency or court order violated 4A and right to family unity
When Arizona state social workers removed plaintiffs’ children from the home without judicial authorization and without a reasonable belief they were in danger or exigency, they violated plaintiffs’ rights to family unity and the Fourth Amendment. The right was clearly … Continue reading
SCOTUS: QI immunity granted where there was arguable PC on the totality for arrests and no case in point saying there wasn’t
On the totality of circumstances, it was reasonable to infer probable cause to arrest plaintiffs for unlawful entry for being in an otherwise vacant building for a party. The actions of the partygoers suggested they knew they had no right … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Administrative search exception doesn’t apply to a motorcycle club that isn’t remotely a “closely regulated business”
The administrative search exception under Atlanta city ordinance doesn’t apply to a motorcycle club that isn’t remotely a “closely regulated business.” Summary judgment for plaintiffs granted. Brown v. City of Atlanta, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6222 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 9, … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Decision on merits on appeal of 4A claim collaterally estops § 1983 action
The Fourth Amendment decision that the search was reasonable and lawful in defendant’s criminal case is collateral estoppel to a civil claim over the search. Harvey v. United States, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5282 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 9, 2018). The … Continue reading
Albuquerque Journal: Gov. wants to grant immunity to police
Albuquerque Journal: Gov. wants to grant immunity to police by Dan Boyd:
Techdirt: Jury Awards Couple No Damages For Bungled Marijuana Raid Predicated On Wet Tea Leaves
Techdirt: Jury Awards Couple No Damages For Bungled Marijuana Raid Predicated On Wet Tea Leaves by Tim Cushing. A raid on 4/20.
D.Mont.: Asking the same question three times within five minutes during a traffic stop prolonged the stop, but with RS
Asking the same question three times within five minutes during a traffic stop prolonged the stop, but it was all with reasonable suspicion. United States v. Brooks, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1691 (D. Mont. Jan. 4, 2018). Defendant’s stop wasn’t … Continue reading
CA11: Takedown of otherwise compliant arrestee was reasonable
Plaintiff’s takedown by the officer was reasonable under the circumstances and not excessive, even if she was otherwise compliant. “Even assuming that Horn was totally compliant with Officer Barron, he was allowed to use some force in effecting her arrest. … Continue reading
CA10: Franks doesn’t apply to private actors providing false information to LEOs
Even assuming private volunteer animal cruelty investigators provided false information that was used to get search warrants issued for plaintiffs’ property for evidence of cockfighting, qualified immunity applies because no case holds that the Franks doctrine applies to a private … Continue reading
CA2: In a § 1983 case alleging lack of PC from omission of information to issuing magistrate, it’s ptf’s burden
In this § 1983 case there was probable cause for issuance of an animal abuse warrant. To argue the probable cause was tainted by omission of information, plaintiff carries the burden, and here she failed. Kanciper v. Lato, 2017 U.S. … Continue reading
CA4: Officer who obtained court order for minor ptf to be detained and to get an erection so police could photograph it gets no QI; this isn’t remotely reasonable
Plaintiff was a 17 year old that allegedly sent a picture of his erection to his 15 year old girlfriend. Defendant obtained a court order for plaintiff to be transported to a juvenile detention center to masturbate to get an … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Police officer’s presence at repossession doesn’t make it state action
A police officer’s presence at the scene of a vehicle repossession doesn’t turn an otherwise private action into a Fourth Amendment seizure. King v. Blackhawk Recovery & Investigations, LLC, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 198373 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 3, 2017). “As … Continue reading