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- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
- D.N.M.: Shared driveway outside of fence and gate was not curtilage
- 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
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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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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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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)
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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: Reasonableness
D.Idaho: Officer can inquire of passenger’s history when contemplating turning over vehicle to passenger on driver’s arrest
“This case presents what appears to be an issue of first impression: Whether, following Rodriguez and Landeros, an officer who has reasonable suspicion that the driver of a vehicle has committed an arrestable offense (as opposed to a traffic infraction) … Continue reading
GA: Mistake as to smell of MJ v. hemp was reasonable, if there was one
“At most, Gowen’s assertion about the similarity of the smells of hemp and marijuana calls into question the reasonableness of the officer’s belief that he smelled burnt marijuana. Assuming for purposes of this appeal that Gowen’s assertion is correct (even … Continue reading
CA9: Order to get out of car permitted in Mimms doesn’t unreasonably extend stop
“The officer’s order to step out of the vehicle and his directive to stand by the patrol car were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. See Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 109-11 (1977) (per curiam). The officer lawfully initiated the … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: No 4A REP in trash container at the street for pickup
Based on the undisputed facts (such that a hearing isn’t required), defendant’s trash was out for collection, and no reasonable expectation of privacy was violated by searching it, and then using that information to get a search warrant. “Here, Officer … Continue reading
MI: Def’s arrest being unlawful, his statement during should be suppressed
The state supreme court having found defendant’s arrest unlawful, his statement during the arrest should have been suppressed. People v. Hammerlund, 2021 Mich. App. LEXIS 3773 (June 17, 2021) (2-1) (dissent). Detention under the Material Witness Statute that was validly … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Four month delay in getting SW for cell phone was not unreasonable
There was justification for seizure of defendant’s cell phone in plain view because it might have evidence of a crime on it. The four month delay in obtaining a search warrant for the phone was reasonable under all the circumstances, … Continue reading
S.D.Ind. & E.D.La.: New crime during arrest not suppressed
Even crediting defendant’s version of events, the exclusionary rule would not be applied to the video of defendant’s violent resistance during his arrest. United States v. Hill, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111803 (S.D. Ind. June 14, 2021). Defendant’s new crime … Continue reading
D.Mass.: 14 day delay between seizure and search of cell phone reasonable
This 14 day delay between the seizure of his cell phones and the application of the warrant to seize them is reasonable. In addition, there is no Fourth Amendment right to have a search warrant issued sooner than it was, … Continue reading
SCOTUS: Tribal officers can stop and detain non-Indians on tribal lands
Tribal police have the inherent authority to stop and search non-Indians on tribal lands for potential violations of tribal, state, or federal law. United States v. Cooley, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 2816 (June 1, 2021). The syllabus:
N.D.Ill.: Pointing a gun isn’t a seizure, but def’s raising hands made it one
Defendant wasn’t seized just by the officer pointing a gun at him; it was when he raised his hands and submitted. “Here, because the officers were responding to a call about an individual with a firearm and Officer Davis reasonably … Continue reading
PA: DUI with agg. assault was sufficiently exigent to dispense with SW for BAC
Defendant was accused of DUI and aggravated assault, and the officer decided that the additional complexity of investigating the assault charge made a warrantless blood draw exigent. It didn’t matter that the state charged him with the assault two months … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Inevitable discovery by inevitable SW obviated dispute over consent
Inevitable discovery also supports the consent search of defendant’s cell phone obtained at the Sarita, Texas checkpoint. The officers had probable cause and told him they’d get a search warrant and he consented instead. The matter was clearly under active … Continue reading
AZ: Even if NCMEC was not private actor, it didn’t expand the prior private search
In Arizona, Fourth Amendment claims are decided first, then state constitutional claims. Google+, acting completely on its own, searched defendant’s photos folder stored with there. Moreover, it was only shown to be protecting its private business interests, not aid the … Continue reading
KS: Officer’s two calls to dispatch telling him there was a warrant was reasonable under Herring
Defendant’s arrest based on the officer’s two calls to dispatch insisting there was a warrant for defendant was reasonable reliance on a mistake of another under Herring. State v. Gilliland, 2021 Kan. App. LEXIS 21 (May 14, 2021). The French … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Stop and detention wasn’t unreasonable, at least in part, because the officer was maskless.
The stop and search of defendant’s person was not constitutionally unreasonable, including the fact the officer wasn’t wearing a mask. United States v. Wright, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83603 (D. Kan. Apr. 30, 2021). Defendant’s submissions in this excessive force … Continue reading
AR: One can’t change 4A argument from trial court to appeal
Defendant’s oral motion to suppress was presented and denied. On appeal, defendant changed the specifics of the argument, and it’s not considered as presented. Saffel v. State, 2021 Ark. App. LEXIS 176 (Apr. 14, 2021). The officer’s stop of defendant’s … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Single question about possession of firearm reasonable under Rodriguez
Defendant was stopped for riding a bicycle with no helmet. The single question about possessing firearms didn’t unreasonably extend the stop. “Because the question asked here, whether Defendant had any firearms, is perhaps the most basic of inquiries related to … Continue reading
CA11: Stop for not having license on bicycle in violation of city code was reasonable
The officer’s stop of defendant for not having a license on his bike per local ordinance was reasonable. Defendant’s flight justified his detention and seizure of his backpack. CoA denied. Thomas v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
ND: Warrantless entry of child protective services to remove a child was unreasonable
State child services officers came to defendant’s door to take her child away. She refused and ran back into the house with officers in pursuit. This warrantless entry and a second entry to collect clothes for the child were unreasonable. … Continue reading