September 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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
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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: DNA
NYTimes: Georgia: $2.2. Million Penalty for Illegal DNA Testing
NYTimes: Georgia: $2.2. Million Penalty for Illegal DNA Testing by Gina Kolatajune: A jury in Atlanta awarded $2,225,000 on Monday to two warehouse workers whose employer required them to submit DNA samples in violation of the federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination … Continue reading
MA: Order for fraternal twin to give up DNA to eliminate him here was unreasonable for an inadequate showing; contempt reversed
“This court concluded that a Superior Court judge, in entering a judgment of contempt in a criminal case due to the refusal, by a third party who was not a suspect, to comply with an order compelling him to provide … Continue reading
DC: Cold case DNA hit confirmed by DNA SW would not be excluded even if original sample was taken wrongfully, which isn’t decided
Defendant’s DNA was collected from him in the BOP in 2005 while he was there on another conviction out of D.C. It was 2009 before it was tested under the DNA Backlog Elimination Act. It matched a cold case in … Continue reading
Wisconsin Radio Network: Law enforcement to start collecting DNA samples during arrests
Wisconsin Radio Network: Law enforcement to start collecting DNA samples during arrests: Wisconsin’s expanded DNA collection regime, which includes a cheek swab of people arrested for certain crimes, goes into effect Wednesday.
GA: Consent to DNA paternity test for sex with 12 year old didn’t bar use of test in criminal case
Defendant’s consent to a DNA test for a paternity test for impregnating a 12 year old didn’t preclude using the evidence in a criminal investigation for having sex with her. Defendant had to know that was possible. Andrews v. State, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Generic motion to suppress without factual or legal argument could be denied on that basis alone
“Defendant’s written motion to suppress the results of the search and seizure is brief, generic, and devoid of factual or legal argument specifically addressing the search warrant at issue now before the Court. Because Defendant has offered no sufficiently specific … Continue reading
MA: No reasonable expectation of privacy in blood stain on defendant’s shirt that was lawfully seized as evidence after his arrest
There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in defendant’s shirt that was lawfully seized as evidence after his arrest. Thus, a search warrant was not required to test it for DNA of the blood found on it. This was not … Continue reading
Daily Record (Md.): Can police take your DNA without consent or a warrant?
Daily Record (Md.): Can police take your DNA without consent or a warrant? by Jason Whong: The U.S. Supreme Court is set to meet privately on Friday to discuss whether Americans have a constitutional right against surreptitious collection of their … Continue reading
WaPo: Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA
WaPo: Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA by Andrew Pollack: There were no known eyewitnesses to the murder of a young woman and her 3-year-old daughter four years ago. No security cameras caught a figure coming or going. … Continue reading
EFF to Supreme Court: The Fourth Amendment Covers DNA Collection
EFF to Supreme Court: The Fourth Amendment Covers DNA Collection: San Francisco – People have a Fourth Amendment right to privacy when it comes to their genetic material, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) argues in an amicus brief filed this … Continue reading
Jurist: Why Collection of Arrestee DNA Violates the Fourth Amendment
Jurist: Why Collection of Arrestee DNA Violates the Fourth Amendment by Christen Giannaros: The twelfth author in a twelve-part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. Giannaros discusses the Fourth Amendment rights violations implicit … Continue reading
Connecticut Law Tribune: Detective Who Didn’t Want to Provide DNA Sample Settles Lawsuit
Connecticut Law Tribune: Detective Who Didn’t Want to Provide DNA Sample Settles Lawsuit by AP: Detective Christopher Burns accused his superiors of telling him and other detectives in January 2009 that they had to give DNA samples or they may … Continue reading
OH6: DNA at crime scene matched to def via CODIS, and that justified SW for more to confirm
A cigarette butt at the crime scene had defendant’s DNA on it according to CODIS, and that supported a search warrant for defendant for confirmatory DNA. State v. Williams, 2015-Ohio-405, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 375 (6th Dist. January 30, 2015). … Continue reading
EFF: State Courts Strike Blows to Criminal DNA Collection Laws in 2014—What to Look for in 2015
EFF: State Courts Strike Blows to Criminal DNA Collection Laws in 2014—What to Look for in 2015: DNA can reveal an extraordinary amount of private information about you, including familial relationships, medical history, predisposition for disease, and possibly even behavioral … Continue reading
IL: Court ordered DNA test for parentage satisfied Fourth Amendment
In a parentage case, a court ordered DNA test did not violate the Fourth Amendment because the proponent of the test had to show that it would provide relevant evidence. The Illinois Supreme Court removed a “good cause” showing from … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Use of booking DNA statute to obtain DNA to link defendant to crime was unreasonable
Under Florida law, DNA is taken from certain types of offenders at the time of booking. The statute is constitutional under Maryland v. King. However, the taking of defendant’s booking DNA for “identification” (King) to link him to a gun … 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):
MotherJones: The FBI Is Very Excited About This Machine That Can Scan Your DNA in 90 Minutes
MotherJones: The FBI Is Very Excited About This Machine That Can Scan Your DNA in 90 Minutes by Shane Bauer: Rapid DNA technology makes it easier than ever to grab and store your genetic profile. G-men, cops, and Homeland Security … Continue reading