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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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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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
C.D.Cal.: City’s bankruptcy stayed § 1983 case yet bankruptcy court granted injunctive relief
City’s bankruptcy stayed plaintiffs’ § 1983 Fourth Amendment case, but it still resulted in plaintiffs getting their injunctive relief from bankruptcy court. They are not without remedy. In re City of San Bernardino, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127564 (C.D. Cal. … Continue reading
CA11: QI denied for entry into house without exigency and Tasering plaintiff
Qualified immunity properly denied for entry into house without exigent circumstances and Tasering plaintiff. “Although George may have had arguable probable cause to arrest Bratt for battery, we cannot find that, as a matter of law, that George was permitted … Continue reading
CADC: Executing daytime warrant at night was unreasonable and a violation of the 4A
Executing a daytime warrant at night violated clearly established law and was unreasonable and a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Jones v. Kirchner, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15759 (D.C.Cir. Aug. 26, 2016). This warrant provided: YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to … Continue reading
CA11: Shooting unarmed man as excessive force is clearly established; summary judgment properly denied
Summary judgment properly denied for a police killing of an unarmed man who had been twice Tazered, the first time with a knife in his kitchen who then ran to his bathroom and was Tazered coming out then shot. The … Continue reading
IL: Mere presence in a high crime area isn’t reasonable suspicion
Mere presence in a high crime area isn’t reasonable suspicion, and defendant was unreasonably seized by police. People v. Williams, 2016 IL App (1st) 132615, 2016 Ill. App. LEXIS 555 (Aug. 19, 2016). “Reed Dempsey brought a civil rights action … Continue reading
D.C.Cir.: Govt waived standing by not presenting issue to Dist.Ct.
The government waived defendant’s lack of standing by not arguing it in the district court. The faint smell of marijuana and multiple air fresheners was probable cause to search. United States v. Sheffield, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14826 (D.C.Cir. Aug. … Continue reading
CA8: Losing a motion to suppress in state court is collateral estoppel to a § 1983 case over the same search
Losing a motion to suppress in state court is collateral estoppel to a § 1983 case over the same search. Nance v. Humane Society to Pulaski County, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14239 (8th Cir. Aug. 4, 2016):
CA7: Ptf stated cause of action for illegal search and false arrest
Plaintiff ran a dog-grooming business and rescue shelter. One dog was overly aggressive and killed another dog, and another became gravely ill after whelping a litter. He took the dogs to Chicago animal control, and they ended up arresting him … Continue reading
CA6: Qualified immunity given for use of victim in aiding document search
In a § 1983 case over an insurance billing search warrant executed with the aid of BCBS to help identify records, the court finds the officers are entitled to qualified immunity. There was no showing that the non-law enforcement assistance … Continue reading
CA9: The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in § 1983 cases
The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in § 1983 cases, joining other circuits. Lingo v. City of Salem, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11708 (9th Cir. June 27, 2016) (amended Aug. 8, 2016):
CA5: Handcuffing for refusal to show ID on school parking lot, without RS, didn’t violate “clearly established law”
Plaintiff drove to his wife’s school, with his daughter in the back seat, to pick his wife up from work. Some busybody citizen decided that the vehicle on school grounds was suspicious and called the police. The officer asked plaintiff … Continue reading
TX: No 4A claim for malicious prosecution
There is no Fourth Amendment claim, let alone a clearly established one, for malicious prosecution. If it exists in the constitution, it would be through due process. McIntyre v. El Paso Indep. Sch. Dist., 2016 Tex. LEXIS 568 (June 24, … Continue reading
MA: Officer’s failure to testify to the facts for his belief that defendant was traveling at an “unreasonable speed” made the stop unreasonable
The officer’s failure to testify to the facts for his belief that defendant was traveling at an “unreasonable speed” made the stop unreasonable. Thus, the passenger’s flight from the car after the stop and the seizure of a gun from … Continue reading
CA4: Prison forced surgery to remove marbles as implants from penis “plausibly” states a claim
Forced prison surgery to have marbles as sexually enhancing implants removed from an inmate’s penis stated a plausible Fourth Amendment claim. He didn’t ask for it, and it is, after all, a private area of his body. “The fact that … Continue reading
Texas Lawyer: Federal Judge Allows Plaintiff to Sue Officers After He Was Detained for Videoing a Police Station
Texas Lawyer: Federal Judge Allows Plaintiff to Sue Officers After He Was Detained for Videoing a Police Station by John Council: An Austin federal judge has ruled that an amateur photographer can pursue a civil rights case against four police … Continue reading
CA6: SW for cell phone based on PC defeats § 1983 case over phone search
“Professional hunter William ‘Spook’ Spann sued his former employee and several officers from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for alleged violations of his constitutional rights during an investigation into his hunting practices. The district court … Continue reading
CA5: Violation of policy against hogtying arrestee isn’t a constitutional violation
Decedent was Tasered when he was fighting officers and wouldn’t comply with repeated requests. He was finally hogtied, too, and he stopped breathing. Paramedics were called, and he ultimately died. Viewing the undisputed facts most favorably to the estate, the … Continue reading
CA11: Deputy sheriff arresting people working for foreclosure company’s agents on his house gets no immunity
Defendant deputy sheriff arrested the agents of the company foreclosing on his house, and they spent the night in jail. No immunity. “Being a law-enforcement officer is not a license to break the law. And it is certainly not a … Continue reading
IA: Guilty plea by a person later proved innocent bars civil action for false arrest
“In this case, we consider whether a defendant who has pled guilty to a criminal offense but later successfully challenged the validity of the plea may qualify as a “wrongfully imprisoned person” under Iowa Code section 663A.1 (2015).” While the … Continue reading
Two § 1983 Fourth Amendment claims dismissed for failing to identify a real issue
“Smith denominates this claim as a § 1983 claim based on ‘impermissible interference in family relationships’ in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. The substance of her argument makes clear, however, that the Fourth Amendment is irrelevant to the … Continue reading