Archives
-
Recent Posts
- CA6: Knowing passcode to cell phone shows common authority over it to consent
- VI: Smell of MJ no longer PC in VI since legalization
- Reason: 3 Charlotte Cops Resign After Group Chat Reveals Competition To Arrest the Most Black People
- E.D.Mich.: Second SW for cell phone data retained by govt was valid
- S.D.W.Va.: “Shocking” nature of immigration raid on a Mexican restaurant at lunchtime didn’t warrant suppression
-
Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
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)
-
“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: State constitution
AR: Investigating pot smell at motel, officers encountered man who reeked of marijuana; stop reasonable
Officers received a call from a motel complaining of the smell of marijuana. Walking up the stairs, they encountered defendant coming down the stairs who reeked of marijuana and stopped him, asked about marijuana, and he produced a bag from … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Just arrested snitch was corroborated enough to be believable for PC purposes
The CI was recently arrested in this investigation, and, while he had no track record, his tale was sufficiently corroborated by other information that had been developed to make him believable enough for probable cause. United States v. Arballo, 2015 … Continue reading
DE: SW execution in the community-living situation
Defendant lived in a house that several people shared, but it wasn’t apparent to the police who got the search warrant. There were no “barriers” on the inside, other than doors, that suggested separate living quarters, and the “do not … Continue reading
IN: Search of a pill bottle incident to an arrest for driving without a DL is found to be unreasonable under the Indiana Constitution [reversed]
Search of a pill bottle incident to an arrest for driving without a license is found to be unreasonable under the Indiana Constitution. Garcia v. State, 2015 Ind. App. LEXIS 50 (February 3, 2015), but reversed: Garcia v. State, 2016 … Continue reading
MA: Egregious police conduct can confer target standing, but this case just doesn’t measure up
Egregious police conduct can confer target standing, but this case just doesn’t measure up. Commonwealth v. Santiago, 470 Mass. 574, 24 N.E.3d 560 (2015): We reaffirm the view stated in Scardamaglia, 410 Mass. at 380, that in a case where … Continue reading
OR: Officer pulled into gas station behind defendant and made him talk, thereby making it a stop
Defendant pulled into a gas station, gassed up, and bought a drink. When he came out, a police car was parked behind him, and the officer required him to talk about the reason for the “stop.” This became a stop … Continue reading
PA decision that CI’s recording inside a house required a warrant affirmed by equally divided court
In 2013, Pennsylvania Superior Court held that the state constitution prohibits warrantless taping inside a suspect’s home with a video camera planted on an informant. Commonwealth v. Dunnavant, 2013 PA Super 38, 63 A.3d 1252 (2013) (posted here). That decision … Continue reading
Bloomberg: In Rare State Move, Wyoming May Add Individual Right to Privacy to Constitution
Bloomberg: In Rare State Move, Wyoming May Add Individual Right to Privacy to Constitution by Tripp Baltz: Dec. 18 — Other states may want to follow Wyoming lawmakers, who in early 2015 will consider a proposed constitutional amendment (15LSO-0066) that … Continue reading
MA: Arrest on recalled warrant suppressed under state const. where officers violated policy and didn’t recheck
Product of an arrest on a recently recalled warrant suppressed under the state constitution. The police had plenty of time to check the status of the warrant during the hours of surveillance looking for defendant and waiting for him to … Continue reading
Cal.1: Taking DNA from an arrestee violates the California Constitution; Maryland v. King distinguished
California’s Constitution and DNA statute is different than Maryland’s in Maryland v. King so taking DNA from an arrestee is unconstitutional. People v. Buza, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 1100 (1st Dist. December 3, 2014):
IN: “No Trespassing” sign and cable across driveway defined curtilage under state constitution; entry required warrant
“No Trespassing” signs used to be not determinative of curtilage. It’s apparent they are becoming so. Here, the defendant had a cable across the driveway, a “No Trespassing” sign, and a surveillance camera. The police were not in hot pursuit … Continue reading
IA: Iowa requires a search warrant for a probation search
Iowa requires a search warrant for a probation search. State v. Sacco, 2014 Iowa App. LEXIS 945 (October 1, 2014): The State asserts the legality of the search at issue here is “controlled by Griffin.” In regard only to Sacco’s … Continue reading
IN still doesn’t recognize the attenuation doctrine
The attenuation doctrine does not apply to violations of the Indiana Constitution. Admittedly, the search of defendant’s vehicle was unlawful, and a receipt found was followed back to video of the transaction. Indiana hasn’t yet adopted inevitable discovery under the … Continue reading
TN: Arrival of a police squad with arrest warrants was a “seizure” despite defendant’s flight
Several police cars from Knoxville PD pulled up at a house with arrest warrants for people known to hang out there. Defendant saw them and fled and was pursued. The arrival of that many police was a “seizure” under the … Continue reading
IN: Refuses to find any reasonable expectation of privacy in telephone records under state constitution
Defendant didn’t pursue an interlocutory appeal of his suppression motion on telephone records being seized in violation of the state constitution. Therefore, he waived it by objecting at trial. Nevertheless, the court finds that he would lose on the state … Continue reading
IA rejects SCOTUS probation and parole search exception on state constitution
On state constitutional grounds, Iowa refuses to follow SCOTUS on probation and parole searches. A search warrant is required without consent. “For the above reasons, we think Cullison remains good law. We decline to overrule it. The United States Supreme … Continue reading
VT: Pre-conviction DNA testing of arrestees after arraignment violates the search provision of state constitution
In a comprehensive opinion, the Vermont Supreme Court held Friday that pre-conviction DNA testing of arrestees after arraignment violates the search provision of the Vermont Constitution. It failed every point of analysis. State v. Medina, 2014 VT 69, 2014 Vt. … Continue reading
OR: Ordering defendant out of his house for an FST was a “stop” and detention as a show of authority
Ordering defendant out of his house for a FST was a “stop” and detention under the state constitution because it was a show of authority. State v. Charles, 263 Or. App. ___, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 804 (June 18, 2014). … Continue reading
Cal.2d: State pharmacy controlled substance database doesn’t violate patients’ privacy rights
A patient does not have a substantial enough state constitutional privacy right to overcome the public interest in making prescription controlled substances records inspections at pharmacies. Pharmacies are highly regulated, and there are sufficient other general protections of patient information. … Continue reading