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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
CA5: Shooting a dog is a seizure; if reasonable, QI applies
Killing a dog is a Fourth Amendment seizure. Here, the owner testified that the dog was not aggressive, although it did come at the officer. The officer had a split second to respond and shot the dog when it was … Continue reading
CA9 narrows the Heck bar even more; and attendees of a party had no standing to challenge a police entry
In a § 1983 lawsuit over an LAPD entry into a warehouse to break up a music party that resulted in an arrest of a few for resisting, the individual plaintiffs who were attendees of the party lacked standing to … Continue reading
CA7: Arguable PC means QI in a § 1983, even though the ptf is proved innocent
The defendants had arguable probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest, even though it proved that plaintiff was innocent. Therefore, they had qualified immunity. Judge Posner, however, dissents finding no probable cause at all. Burritt v. Ditlefsen, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 20760 … Continue reading
DC: Jail cell search was for penological purpose, not criminal investigation
The government showed that the jail cell search of defendant was for legitimate penological purposes and not for criminal investigation. Tann v. United States, 2015 D.C. App. LEXIS 533 (Nov. 19, 2015). “The federal courts are not free-range problem solvers”; … Continue reading
CA1: No QI for entry into wrong home chasing burglar; officer should have known this was unjustified
Officers pursuing a burglar down streets and into backyards was directed to a house by an unidentified person, and they entered it with a dog after allegedly announcing. No burglar, but the homeowner who was not pleased, and he got … Continue reading
NY4: Warrantless probation search condition based on “alcohol/drug abuse” wasn’t supported by the record
A warrantless probation search condition based on “alcohol/drug abuse” wasn’t supported by the record, and it is struck on appeal. People v. Mead, 2015 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8395, 2015 NY Slip Op 08304 (4th Dept. Nov. 13, 2015). Alleged … Continue reading
SCOTUS: Not clearly established deadly force could not be used on suspect fleeing at high speed who threatened to shoot officers; Sotomayor: “By sanctioning a ‘shoot first, think later’ approach to policing, the Court renders the protections of the Fourth Amendment hollow.”
It was not clearly established at the time (2010) that deadly force could not be used on a suspect fleeing in a car at 85-100 mph who threatened to shoot police officers. Thus, the separate Fourth Amendment question doesn’t matter … Continue reading
CA7: § 1983 SOL starts from the date of the search and seizure
Plaintiff was arrested, searched, prosecuted, and acquitted. He claimed illegal search and seizure and police theft of property, but the claim was filed 2½ years after the occurrence, and Illinois has a two year limitations period. “Claims for wrongful search … Continue reading
CA6: Officers’ civil assist ended up in stating a claim in the retaking of a car
Officers were on a civil assist in aiding repossession of a car that was involved in a family dispute going back and forth for a couple of years. “Viewing the record in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, we agree … Continue reading
D.C.Cir.: Bivens does not apply to claims about extraterritorial torture
Bivens does not apply to claims about extraterritorial torture. Meshal v. Higgenbotham, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 18453 (D.C.Cir. Oct. 23, 2015):
CA10: Even if SW was overbroad, it was approved by DA before issuing magistrate got it, and they could reasonably rely on it
Even if a search warrant was overbroad in describing items to be seized with the requisite particularity, police officers were improperly denied qualified immunity since the warrant was approved by a district attorney and issued by a detached and neutral … Continue reading
CA10: Officers get qualified immunity for SW that was not completely without particularity
In this § 1983 case over the particularity of a search warrant over stolen cars on his property, the officers had qualified immunity. The warrant was not so lacking in particularity that a reasonable officer couldn’t rely on it. Rathbun … Continue reading
NC: Federal civil rights 12(b)(6) dismissal not “adjudication on the merits” for collateral estoppel in state court
Dismissal of a Fourth Amendment civil rights claim under the federal heightened pleading standard was not an “adjudication on the merits” for collateral estoppel in state court. Fox v. Johnson, 2015 N.C. App. LEXIS 814 (October 6, 2015):
CA5: Suppression of evidence in state court does not per se raise a basis for a claim in federal court on whether the officers violated clearly established rights
Suppression of evidence in state court does not per se raise a basis for a claim in federal court on whether the officers violated clearly established rights, particularly when the suppression hearing transcript wasn’t provided to the federal court. Cleveland … Continue reading
CA3: Appellate order reversing revo overcame Heck bar
Plaintiff had his probation revoked and reversed it on appeal. The appellate court’s order, although not addressing his specific issue, was still a termination in his favor for the Heck bar in a § 1983 case for wrongful prosecution. “This … Continue reading
CA6: During a long standoff, police sent for coffee and granola bars but no warrant before a sniper killed the suicidal defendant before he could kill himself
Police engaged in a long standoff with a suicidal subject whose only alleged crime was to fire a gun into the woods which he thought were unoccupied. Every window in the house was broken by tear gas canisters, and he … Continue reading
NJ: Stashing drugs in another person’s drainpipe shows no REP
Defendant who hid drugs in the drainpipe of a neighbor’s house had no standing to challenge a search of the drainpipe. While evidence at the trial differed, this did not give the defendant the right to reopen the suppression hearing. … Continue reading
CA8: Qualified immunity because it was not clearly established in 2009 use of a Taser was unreasonable
It was not clearly established in 2009 that use of a Taser was unreasonable so the officers get qualified immunity. Here, it happened in jail when plaintiff refused to change into a jail uniform. Hollingsworth v. City of St. Ann, … Continue reading