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- N.D.Ala.: SW not invalid because issuing judge previously represented the target
- The Guardian: ‘We should be worried’: report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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"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: Plain view, feel, smell
S.D.Fla.: Search incident and community caretaking exceptions can’t support govt’s search of def’s messenger bag days later
The government’s search incident theory to sustain a search of defendant’s messenger bag days after his arrest is rejected. “The fundamental purpose of the search incident to arrest exception is to ensure safety and safeguard evidence. Neither of these concerns … Continue reading
OH2: Def’s case was pending when Carpenter decided, so he gets benefit of it, but there was exigency for ping
Defendant was arrested in 2016 for a murder. He raised a CSLI issue, and he was tried after Carpenter was decided. He gets the benefit of Carpenter because his case was still pending when it came down. Nevertheless, there was … Continue reading
TX14: The exclusionary rule does not apply to drug testing in a termination of parental rights case
The exclusionary rule does not apply to drug testing in a termination of parental rights case. In the Interest of L.C.L., 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 6018 (Tex. App. – Houston (14th Dist.) July 16, 2019). The smell of marijuana during … Continue reading
IN: When AE applies, the fact def walked away from the car doesn’t prevent search
Where there was probable cause and the automobile exception applied, the fact defendant walked away from the vehicle didn’t prohibit its search. Cleveland v. State, 2019 Ind. App. LEXIS 316 (July 15, 2019). Defendant was apparently asleep parked in an … Continue reading
CA7: Drug stakeout led to stumbling upon CP in plain view
Officers were in a park looking for a drug meet up. They incidentally noticed defendant’s car and his actions suggested he might be doing drugs. They approached him and smelled marijuana coming from the car, but he was in the … Continue reading
FL3: A flash drive plugged into a work computer is subject to search as a part of the work computer
Defendant was employed by the Miami-Dade Police Department and worked in the armory. She was suspected of falsifying police reports to get her husband fired from his job. When investigators went to her work computer, her personal flash drive was … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Contents of partially open box in post office was within plain view
A priority mail box was partially open and inadequately sealed in a post office on tribal lands. A baggie of apparent methamphetamine was visible inside. The post office called the tribal police, and that officer saw it too. This was … Continue reading
LA3: “Defendant may not retreat to the curtilage of his home to avoid arrest.”
“Defendant may not retreat to the curtilage of his home to avoid arrest.” State v. Nolan, 2019 La. App. LEXIS 1085 (La. App. 3 Cir. June 12, 2019). The smell of marijuana was justification for search of defendant’s person. A … Continue reading
CA6: State sanctioned blood draws of newborns and keeping the samples stated 4A claim
Plaintiffs stated a Fourth Amendment claim that the state took blood samples from children to check for diseases and then retained them in the Michigan Neonatal Biorepository. Remanded for further consideration. Kanuszewski v. Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services, … Continue reading
IA: Smell of MJ alone is PC for a search
“Iowa Supreme Court precedent holds that the odor of marijuana emanating from a person, by itself, when detected by a police officer, who has adequate knowledge and training to recognize the smell, constitutes probable cause. The district court incorrectly found … Continue reading
WA: Blood was apparent in plain view on def’s clothing in hospital room
“¶1 David Morgan was convicted by a jury of first degree assault, attempted murder, and arson. A bloodstain pattern analysis performed on his clothing suggested he was in close proximity to the victim when she suffered her injuries. We must … Continue reading
AZ: Smoking MMJ in a parked car on a commercial lot is “public”
Smoking medical marijuana in a car in a commercial parking lot is public enough that it violates the AMMA to do so. While a car has some privacy, anything visible isn’t. Following People v. Carlton, 880 N.W.2d 803 (Mich. Ct. … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Computer search for CP can lead to legitimate plain view
In a computer search for child pornography, reviewing the computer files can easily lead to a plain view. “The agents were permitted to ‘engage in a cursory review of files [in the folder dated 2005], by opening them, to determine … Continue reading
CA11 (en banc): Frisk in high crime area at 4 am produced ammunition and empty holster by plain feel
A frisk at 4 am in a high crime area was not only justified, it produced one round of ammunition and an empty holster by plain feel. That led to a search of the ground that produced the firearm. The … Continue reading
LA1: Plain view during a probation “compliance check” is valid
Plain view during a probation “compliance check” is valid. State v. Cheramie, 2019 La. App. LEXIS 576 (La. App. 1 Cir. Apr. 5, 2019). Defense counsel filed a motion to suppress which was heard and denied. He then pled guilty. … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Even if Carpenter applies to a cell phone tower dump, the GFE applies
Even if Carpenter applies to cell phone tower dumps, which isn’t a certainty, the good faith exception applies. United States v. Pendergrass, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 222190 (N.D. Ga. Sept. 11, 2018), later opinion on reconsideration, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Nev.: The fact the officers claimed to smell marijuana but didn’t find any doesn’t mean they were lying
It was testified that the car smelled like burnt marijuana. The fact none was found doesn’t indicate that officers were lying. United States v. Davila, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42805 (D. Nev. Jan. 31, 2019),* adopted, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Suggestion def look in console for insurance papers revealing a gun in plain view wasn’t a search
During defendant’s stop, he couldn’t find his insurance papers. Defendant rummaged through papers here and there. The officer suggested defendant look in the center console again, and this time the officer saw a gun. The suggestion he look in the … Continue reading