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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: Excessive force
M.D.Fla.: Borrower of a car has standing to challenge its search
Following cases from other circuits, since this circuit hasn’t ruled, the borrower of a car has standing to challenge its search. The traffic stop was justified, and reasonable suspicion developed thereafter. United States v. Baker, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73856 … Continue reading
Inside Edition: Cameras capture police throwing 8-month pregnant woman to the ground, handcuffing and arresting her
Inside Edition: Cameras capture police throwing 8-month pregnant woman to the ground, handcuffing and arresting her
LATimes via MSN: Privacy often trumps transparency with police shooting videos
LATimes via MSN: Privacy often trumps transparency with police shooting videos by Richard Winton: Cameras mounted inside patrol cars captured every moment. With their guns drawn, Gardena, Calif., police officers screamed instructions at three men on the sidewalk. The officers … Continue reading
The Atlantic: Police Brutality and ‘The Role That Whiteness Plays’
The Atlantic: Police Brutality and ‘The Role That Whiteness Plays’ by Robin DeAngelo: A scholar’s analysis of American culture presumes too much.
St. Louis Public Radio: Senate gives first approval to bill changing state’s deadly force law
St. Louis Public Radio: Senate gives first approval to bill changing state’s deadly force law by Ray Howze: The Missouri Senate is moving on a bill that would limit the use of deadly force by police. The measure, approved by … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: Argument preview: Pre-trial detainees and excessive force in jail
SCOTUSBlog: Argument preview: Pre-trial detainees and excessive force in jail by Richard M. Re: Kingsley v. Hendrickson will be the Court’s next word on the law of excessive force. The case focuses on the relatively narrow question of what should … Continue reading
NYTimes: Police Unions, Facing Public Anger, Rethink How to Address Shootings
NYTimes: Police Unions, Facing Public Anger, Rethink How to Address Shootings by Al Baker: Amid nationwide outrage over a police officer’s shooting eight bullets at the back of an unarmed, fleeing suspect in South Carolina, the statement by the local … Continue reading
Courthouse News Service: Ferguson Police Face Scrutiny of 8th Circuit
Courthouse News Service: Ferguson Police Face Scrutiny of 8th Circuit by Joe Harris: ST. LOUIS (CN) – A black man who claims he was charged with destruction of police property for bleeding on Ferguson police officers’ uniforms during a brutal … Continue reading
CA11: The beating of ptf to “subdue” him after flight from officer was reasonable
Defendant fled from an officer reaching into his truck to stop him from leaving. Ultimately he wrecked his truck. Despite his desire to surrender, “he noticed a small retention pond and — for reasons he asserts are unknown even to … Continue reading
Forbes: Appeals Court Overturns Jury’s $250,000 Award In Fatal Drug Raid: Why?
Forbes: Appeals Court Overturns Jury’s $250,000 Award In Fatal Drug Raid: Why? by George Leef: Many court cases cause you to wonder if the Constitution isn’t a dead letter, but the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Kane v. Lewis in March … Continue reading
WaPo: Cop accused of brutally torturing black suspects costs Chicago $5.5 million
WaPo: Cop accused of brutally torturing black suspects costs Chicago $5.5 million by Michael E. Miller: Whenever Chicago Police commander Jon Burge needed a confession, he would walk into the interrogation room and set down a little black box, his … Continue reading
Yahoo News: Video captured 2014 Taser shooting involving SC officer Michael Slager
Yahoo News: Video captured 2014 Taser shooting involving SC officer Michael Slager by Jason Sickles Lawsuit alleges suspect wasn’t a threat when he was shot in the back.
Above the Law: Supreme Court To Decide On ADA and Fourth Amendment Issues In Police Shootings
Above the Law: Supreme Court To Decide On ADA and Fourth Amendment Issues In Police Shootings by Renwei Chung: According to the Portland Press Herald in Maine, “nationally about half of the estimated 375 to 500 people shot and killed … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: Use of a SWAT team to execute a document search warrant was not so unreasonable that it made the entire search unreasonable
Use of a SWAT team to execute a document search warrant was not so unreasonable that it made the entire search unreasonable. Also, the alleged overseizure of records was not clearly unreasonable. Mountain Pure LLC v. Roberts, 2015 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
CA6: Prolonged Tasering known to be excessive force that causes brain injury
Tasering plaintiff’s ward twice for 5 and 21 seconds violated clearly established law and created an unnecessary risk of the brain injury he suffered. It was clear to the officer that applying a Taser for 15 seconds or more was … Continue reading
WaPo: Radley Balko: We’re asking the wrong question about police shootings
WaPo: Radley Balko: We’re asking the wrong question about police shootings: But I recently spoke on a panel at the University of South Carolina with the former police officer and now law professor Seth Stoughton. He made a point that … Continue reading
UPI: NYPD caught editing Wikipedia pages related to police brutality
UPI: NYPD caught editing Wikipedia pages related to police brutality by Thor Benson: A new report from Capital New York claims thousands of edits to Wikipedia articles related to police brutality can be traced to the NYPD headquarters….The report claims … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Hotel room qualified as temporary residence for parole search
A parolee was staying in a hotel room between residences, and the officers had probable cause to believe that evidence of counterfeiting would be found there. Therefore, the hotel room qualified as a temporary residence subject to parole search. United … Continue reading
WaPo: Another day, another drug raid fatality
WaPo: Another day, another drug raid fatality by Radley Balko: Meet Derek Cruice, your latest collateral damage in the drug war: A deputy shot and killed an unarmed man while attempting to serve a narcotics search warrant in Deltona, according … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice Dept. concludes that no, Michael Brown’s hands were probably not up
WaPo: Justice Dept. concludes that no, Michael Brown’s hands were probably not up by Wesley Lowery: In one of two reports released by the Department of Justice on Wednesday, federal investigators opted against charging Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson with … Continue reading