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- D.Minn.: Extending stop to run ALPR information on car was with RS
- CA3: Ptf was arrested on an apparent but recalled warrant, then officers confirmed it and let him go; the arrest was reasonable
- N.D.Ohio: Failure to serve state SW within state mandated time not 4A violation
- NY1: Gunshot through floor from apartment above was exigency
- Reason: Most Civil Forfeiture Victims Never See the Inside of a Courtroom
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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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)
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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
CA5: Heien objective reasonableness applies to a stop for driving too slow even though it was just def’s car in traffic
Driving too slow for too long justifies a stop, at least Heien makes it reasonable: “Given the dearth of authority on whether a single vehicle constitutes traffic …, the ambiguity in the statute, and the danger observed by the officer, … Continue reading
Reason: Volokh Conspiracy: Impressions from the oral argument in Kansas v. Glover
Reason: Volokh Conspiracy: Impressions from the oral argument in Kansas v. Glover by Orin S. Kerr On reasonable suspicion and how to calculate it.
OH4: Heien good faith mistake of fact doesn’t apply to a stop under a completely inapplicable ordinance
Defendant’s stop was unreasonable, and Heien’s good faith mistake of fact doesn’t apply. The city code provision dealt with turning at intersections, and the officer stopped defendant for turning into a driveway which is not an “intersection.” State v. Ware, … Continue reading
AL: Failure to have arrest warrant in hand under state law voids the arrest and the search incident that occurred; Heien inapplicable
Defendant was unreasonably and mistakenly arrested without the officer having the arrest warrant in hand as required by state law, and the search incident to the arrest is suppressed. The court finds Heien and the good faith exception inapplicable because … Continue reading
CA11: Criminal trial record not fully binding on ptf who was on trial there because incentives to litigate were different
The defendants observed plaintiff’s actions and they saw probable cause to believe he committed trespass. Therefore, the false arrest claim fails. His excessive force claim, however, survives summary judgment. Using the criminal trial testimony wasn’t particularly helpful or controlling because … Continue reading
OH2: Officer’s sexual assault of motorist criminally violated 4A
Defendant was a part time police officer conviction of state civil rights violations for sexual assault during frisks of women that clearly exceeded the Fourth Amendment. State v. Sanderson, 2019-Ohio-3589, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 3673 (2d Dist. Sept. 6, 2019).* … Continue reading
CA8: Strip search of female detainee on parking lot stated § 1983 claim
Nearly public strip search of female detainee on an open parking lot by a female officer also berating her with a male officer nearby stated a claim and overcame qualified immunity. Robinson v. Hawkins, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 26772 (8th … Continue reading
CA6: Tightening handcuffs more when arrestee complains and threatening her life overcame QI
“A group of masked City of Detroit police officers broke down plaintiff Katrina McGrew’s door, threw her to the ground, and handcuffed her so tightly it left bruises. When she complained about how constricting the handcuffs were, the officers threatened … Continue reading
DE: DNA warrant fails because affidavit for it does show how or why it could be found
“As previously noted, this Court must pay great deference to a magistrate’s determination of probable cause and must take a common-sense approach rather than a hyper-technical approach. Nonetheless, given the totality of the circumstances set forth in the Affidavit, including … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: An NCIC check is within the normal mission of a traffic stop
An NCIC check is within the normal mission of a traffic stop. “Next, regardless of the timing of events, ‘most courts confronted with the issue have determined that checking a passenger’s driver’s license in addition to the vehicle driver’s license … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Request for consent within 20 seconds of handing over tickets didn’t unreasonably extend stop
A request for consent within 20 seconds of handing the tickets to the defendant did not unreasonably extend the stop. The court finds the consent voluntary. United States v. Perez-Almeida, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144705 (E.D. Va. Aug. 26, 2019). … Continue reading
NM applies Strieff in a near replica case; outstanding arrest warrant overcomes allegedly illegal stop
“Accordingly, based upon our application of the Brown factors in a circumstance markedly similar to Strieff, we conclude that Defendant’s arrest warrant was an intervening cause that broke the causal chain between Officer Townsend’s unlawful detention of Defendant and the … Continue reading
NC: Def outside cleaning his car when police showed up for drug raid couldn’t be detained under Summers
When the police showed up to search the premises, defendant was outside cleaning his car. His detention cannot be justified by Summers as a known recent occupant of the premises. His conviction is reversed. State v. Thompson, 2019 N.C. App. … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: A parked car is still subject to automobile exception
The automobile exception applied to an already parked car because it’s still “mobile” for exigency purposes. United States v. Mizell, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138171 (N.D. Ga. July 29, 2019), adopted, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137988 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 15, … Continue reading
CA9: Info of illegal search was put into second SW affidavit and independent PC was shown
In a felon in possession case, there was a prior illegal search by state troopers. ATF picked up the case immediately and applied for a search warrant that included the information from the illegal search, and there was independent evidence … Continue reading
M.D.Tenn.: Tennessee’s “must cite” statute for misdemeanants doesn’t govern under 4A
Tennessee has a “must cite” statute, that misdemeanor arrestees are presumptive cited and released. That, however, doesn’t govern the Fourth Amendment under Virginia v. Moore. United States v. Chol, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129565 (M.D. Tenn. Aug. 2, 2019). The … Continue reading
CA8: Not a 4A violation for school resource officer to handcuff sobbing second grader
It was not unreasonable for a school resource officer to handcuff for 15 minutes a 7-year-old sobbing second grader who he suspected of active resistance to going to the principal’s office. Aside from reasonableness, qualified immunity applies because the right … Continue reading