Archives
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Recent Posts
- MO: When officers came with an arrest warrant, def’s admission he had a firearm justified the entry
- PA: Shining flashlight into hole in a shoebox was a search; there was a REP in the closed box
- CA5: Accidentally shooting the man who disarmed the shooter from a residence was not a constitutional violation
- CA9: False evidence to arrest violates due process
- CA6: The SW affidavit here was thin, but it wasn’t completely bare bones, so GFE applies
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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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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
Salon: Supreme Court’s police debacle: How it quietly helped cops prey on poor people
Salon: Supreme Court’s police debacle: How it quietly helped cops prey on poor people by Seth Morris: In December, in the midst of nationwide protests drawing attention to the broken relationship between the police and communities of color, the Supreme … Continue reading
NY, Bronx Co.: Wiretap minimization requirements are founded on the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and of particularity
Wiretap minimization requirements are founded on the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and of particularity. This is the case against NYPD officers accused of ticket fixing. People v. Anthony, 2015 NY Slip Op 25003, 2015 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 44 … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Court grants suppression hearing on state law violations, even though it may not be relevant
Because circuit case law is unclear on whether a violation of state law is relevant [it likely won’t be under Virginia v. Moore], defendant gets a suppression hearing. United States v. Watkins, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4037 (E.D. Mich. January … Continue reading
Cal.4: DV improper in state § 1983 case; 14 detention of guests at house at time of raid was likely unreasonable, and no QI
Plaintiff had a big annual Halloween party at his Orange County mansion that the neighbors always complained about. This one was called “Casino Night,” so the OCSO decided to get a search warrant and raid the place with the SWAT … Continue reading
CA5: Knock-and-announce still lives: No § 1983 qualified immunity for violation of rule
After discussing at length the purposes of the knock-and-announce rule and how well established it is, the court finds that the officer was not entitled to qualified immunity for a violation of the rule for entry into plaintiffs’ home without … Continue reading
MA: State can’t use an SDT to get a cell phone turned over to a law firm for providing the owner legal advice [state law limits law office searches]
A law firm received a cell phone from a John Doe client under investigation. The state sought the cell phone by subpoena because of a state statutory prohibition against law office searches. Mass. G.L. c. 276, § 1. The phone … Continue reading
CA6: Search of suspended judge’s personal safe during judicial misconduct investigation stated a claim for relief
The plaintiff was a judge suspended by the state judiciary and a workplace search occurred in relation to that investigation. Her personal safe was searched, too. The search of the office was reasonable under O’Connor, but the search of her … Continue reading
FL1: No Fourth Amendment or state law violation for P2P CP trolling to cross jurisdictional lines
A municipal police officer trolling P2P connections found child pornography on defendant’s computer. When she got the IP address, it was apparent the computer was located in another municipality nearby. The Fourth Amendment wasn’t violated by her extraterritorial examination of … 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
E.D.Ky.: 911 call about burglary in progress led to objectively reasonable warrantless entry
Officers responded to a possible burglary 911 call in an area known for recent burglaries. They talked to the 911 caller, and she told them that the car parked across from the defendant’s house didn’t belong in the neighborhood, and … Continue reading
WND: Swat Team Tasers, Pepper-Sprays Homeschoolers
WND: SWAT Team Tasers, Pepper-Sprays Homeschoolers by Bob Unruh: A Missouri homeschooling family is suing a sheriff and another officer who forcibly entered their home without a warrant, Tasered the father, pepper-sprayed the mother and put their children in the … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Rule 17 subpoena for police S&S manuals wasn’t relevant to suppression hearing
A defense Rule 17 subpoena to the SFPD for its search and seizure procedure manuals is quashed. The Fourth Amendment question is objective reasonableness, and that stuff isn’t going to aid the court. United States v. Johnson, 2014 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
CA3: Where search was limited, alleged overbreadth of SW was less important
The affidavit for the search warrant showed probable cause, so the search can’t be suppressed. Moreover, the officer acted reasonably and gets qualified immunity. The search itself wasn’t as broad as the warrant was argued to allow, so the search … Continue reading
OR: Order for resting nystagmus test in front of jury was a search
During defendant’s DUI trial, the question of whether defendant was tested for resting nystagmus was raised because it wasn’t in the field notes. Then the state asked for and got a test for resting nystagmus of the defendant in front … Continue reading
Houston Chronicle: Lawsuit over ‘Texas Takedown’ proceeds despite defendants’ request to dismiss
Houston Chronicle: Lawsuit over ‘Texas Takedown’ proceeds despite defendants’ request to dismiss by Carole Christian: A Montgomery County woman who sued county officials over a home narcotics search that was filmed for reality TV can continue with part of the … Continue reading
M.D.La.: Year long seizure of a hard drive without getting a warrant was unreasonable
A computer tech was hired to transfer information from an old hard drive to a new computer in 2007, and he stumbled upon child pornography and called the FBI. They met, and he brought the hard drive. Defendant’s email address … Continue reading
Tenth Amendment Center: Fourth Amendment: The History Behind “Unreasonable”
Tenth Amendment Center: Fourth Amendment: The History Behind “Unreasonable” by Mike Meharrey: The Fourth Amendment prohibits violations of our privacy and our person from unreasonable infringement by federal agents. The founding generation had a pretty clear idea of what constituted … Continue reading
538.com: Nobody Knows How Many Americans The Police Kill Each Year
538.com: Nobody Knows How Many Americans The Police Kill Each Year by Reuben Fischer-Baum: Earlier this month, a police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting and the response have reignited concerns … Continue reading
NYTimes: First Justice Department Memo on Killing Anwar Al-Awlaki
NYTimes: First Justice Department Memo on Killing Anwar Al-Awlaki by Charlie Savage: Following the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane on Dec. 25, 2009, the Obama administration considered whether it would be legal to target for killing Anwar Al-Awlaki, a … Continue reading