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- VA: Body cam video of valid arrest would not be suppressed
- NM: Trial court’s finding of consent is reversed because the court engaged in its own internet investigation beyond what the parties provided
- Reason: No Warrant, No Suspicion, No Problem: Flock and Border Cellphone Searches Excluded From 4th Amendment Rules
- Reason: Flock’s Gunfire Alerts Raise a New Fourth Amendment Question
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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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--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: Excessive force
D.S.D.: RS lacking: nervousness not enough, and remainder was minimal
USMJ’s report is rejected in part. On the reasonable suspicion finding: “Here, the government relies on several factors to establish reasonable suspicion. The court has found that some of these factors, such as the visibly pulsing heartbeat and rapid breathing, … Continue reading
W.D.Okla.: Whether 14A or 4A applies to ptf’s excessive force claim on arrest before PC found by judicial officer, result the same
Plaintiff’s excessive force claim occurred after arrest but before a judicial determination of probable cause. “If so, Mr. Willis would not have been a pretrial detainee for purposes of Plaintiff’s excessive force claim. However, because the parties characterize him as … Continue reading
NM: Dismissal of § 1983 excessive force case was not collateral estoppel for a state tort claims act case
Dismissal of a § 1983 excessive force case in federal court was not collateral estoppel for a state case under the state tort claims act. Hernandez v. Parker, 2022 N.M. App. LEXIS 5 (Feb. 1, 2022). Extending this stop was … Continue reading
CA6: Where there was a threat in the house on the second floor, it wasn’t unreasonable for officers to go check it out
“We have held, however, that ‘[w]ithin a few seconds of reasonably perceiving a sufficient danger, officers may use deadly force even if in hindsight the facts show that the persons threatened could have escaped unharmed.’ … Though different decisions on … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: The state used Google satellite images to corroborate officer’s testimony of stop
The government used Google satellite images and distancing to corroborate the officer’s testimony defendant didn’t signal his turn in time. After the stop, the smell of marijuana was apparent. United States v. Miles, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14860 (S.D.Ind. Jan. … Continue reading
NJ: Race and being ¾ mile from a robbery not RS
Defendants were stopped in a car ¾ of a mile and driving away from the scene of a 7-11 robbery. All the officer knew was there were two black males involved. In their car, there were three black males. That … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: SoL for false arrest starts on release from custody
The statute of limitations for a false arrest case starts with release. Manuel v. City of Joliet, Ill. (Manuel II), 903 F.3d 667, 669 (7th Cir. 2018), on remand from Manuel v. City of Joliet, Ill., 137 S. Ct. 911 … Continue reading
CA9: It is clearly established that using “intermediate force” against a nonresisting arrestee is unreasonable
It was clearly established that using “intermediate force” against a nonresisting arrestee is unreasonable. “To be clear, we are generally loath to second-guess law enforcement officers’ actions in a dangerous situation by analyzing each act without looking at the entire … Continue reading
CA7: Ptf’s manufactured evidence claim survives QI
Plaintiff was tried and acquitted for murder. He sued under § 1983 after two years in custody alleging evidence for his trial was fabricated and exculpatory evidence was withheld. The district court denied qualified immunity, and the defendants appealed. Defendants … Continue reading
Cal.3: Smell of burnt MJ from car not PC in California
The smell of burnt marijuana coming from a car in California isn’t probable cause. Blakes v. Superior Court, 2021 Cal. App. LEXIS 1057 (3d Dist. Nov. 24, 2021) (published Dec. 16, 2021). Officers had probable cause for the automobile exception … Continue reading
CA8 again grants QI to stopping innocent persons at gunpoint
The Eighth Circuit again holds that stopping innocent persons at gunpoint with almost any reason at all almost always results in qualified immunity for the officer. Irvin v. Richardson, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 37110 (8th Cir. Dec. 16, 2021):
E.D.N.Y.: For § 1988 fee shifting, SCOTUS expert fees not awarded, only local rate
The fact expert Fourth Amendment counsel would have charged the client $1,000-1,800 before SCOTUS isn’t binding on the district court for fee shifting. The local rate is what’s reasonable. Agudath Israel of America v. Hochul, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 233088 … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Evil intent irrelevant in excessive force case if it all still objectively reasonable
“Issues of motive and intent are essentially irrelevant in [an excessive force] case. The test in an excessive force case is an objective one. Thus, ‘[a]n officer’s evil intentions will not make a Fourth Amendment violation out of an objectively … Continue reading
OR: Proximity to others probably committing a crime isn’t PC
“[T]he facts supporting [the officer’s] belief that defendant committed a crime were not specific to defendant and related instead to defendant’s proximity to drug use by others.” “Because the totality of the circumstances here fail to demonstrate a probability that … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Arrestee left out in cold in t-shirt stated 4A claim
Plaintiff states a Fourth Amendment claim that he was arrested and left outside in the snow in jeans and a t-shirt for more than 30 minutes. Bolin v. Prater, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 225777 (N.D.Ind. Nov. 23, 2021). Leaving drugs … Continue reading
E.D.Wash.: Covid-19 testing requirements are not subject to 4A reasonable suspicion standard
“Plaintiff argues any COVID-19 testing requirement is subject to the reasonable suspicion standards under the Fourth Amendment. … However, the Proclamation does not contain or implicate a testing requirement. … Therefore, Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claim is without merit. Plaintiff has … Continue reading
N.D.N.Y.: Prolonging detention after conviction is an 8A claim, not 4A
Prolongation of detention after conviction is an Eighth Amendment claim, not Fourth Amendment. Trapani v. Annucci, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 223605 (N.D.N.Y. Nov. 19, 2021). Plaintiff’s claims that a TV she bought at Walmart is video spying on her and … Continue reading
CA6: “The Fourth Amendment does not require an officer to be right, only to be reasonable.”
As to probable cause: “The Fourth Amendment does not require an officer to be right, only to be reasonable.” Allen v. City of Ecorse, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 34348 (6th Cir. Nov. 18, 2021). Defendant’s guilty plea included a comprehensive … Continue reading
CA6: Sex with a court transport officer stated excessive force claim
Sexual intercourse with a court transport officer stated an excessive force claim. Plaintiff raised a factual dispute that the sex wasn’t consensual because of his control over her and a threat he made after he found out she talked about … Continue reading