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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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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
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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)
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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
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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Seizure
CA9: Passenger also shot in effort to stop vehicle was seized under 4A; SJ denied on reasonableness of force
A vehicle passenger who was not intentionally targeted by the officers had a cognizable Fourth Amendment interest under Brower v. County of Inyo and Brendlin v. California. His freedom of movement was terminated when the officers intentionally shot at the … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Guilty plea in state court precludes claim that arrest lacked PC
Having pled guilty in state court, plaintiff can’t complain that the arrest leading to the plea lacked probable cause. Moser v. Davis, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13308 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 25, 2021). Petitioner had a “full and fair” opportunity to … Continue reading
D.V.I.: Failure to put on proof at suppression hearing leads to show cause order to defense
Defendant filed a motion to suppress a statement and a search. At the hearing, however, the search wasn’t challenged. Defendant has to show cause why that part of the motion should not be denied. United States v. Henry, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
CA8: Direction to stay in car during a traffic stop wasn’t a seizure
Direction to defendant to stay in his car during a stop was not a separate seizure. United States v. Warren, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 701 (8th Cir. Jan. 12, 2021). There was probable cause for defendant’s arrest. Officers bought drugs … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: RS not required to approach a person to talk to him
“Williams first argues that the police officers violated the Fourth Amendment by approaching him without reasonable suspicion. R. 33 at 17. But reasonable suspicion is only required when a suspect has been seized. United States v. Douglass, 467 F.3d 621, … Continue reading
NY3: Visitor at a party had no REP
Defendant was invited to a party at a vacant building loaned to a friend for purposes of the party. He wasn’t staying past the end of the party. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched. People … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: SW for premises didn’t justify stop of car allowed to leave
A search warrant for the premises here did not justify defendants’ stop in their car after they were allowed to leave it. Moreover, there was no reasonable suspicion for the stop; no traffic violation, no nothing. United States v. Williamson, … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: A vehicle search doesn’t have to happen as soon as PC develops; prudent to wait for backup
“Defendant retorts that, if in fact Sgt. Concepcion discovered the marijuana odor early in the traffic stop, he should have begun the search immediately rather than waiting for the arrival of Investigator Gould, citing no caselaw in support. The Court … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Each factor of RS alone might not be enough but totality was
“While Mr. Muldrow rightly points out the tip, his evasive behavior, and the neighborhood each standing alone, would not create reasonable suspicion, all of these factors together with Sergeant Stephan’s observation Mr. Muldrow appeared to have a gun and hid … Continue reading
D.C.Cir.: Alleged seizure of open fields not a 4A claim, but it is a 5A claim
The North American Butterfly Association sued the federal government over a part of the Mexican border wall on their butterfly preserve being Fourth and Fifth Amendment claims. Their Fourth Amendment claim is dismissed because it involves alleged seizure of open … Continue reading
SCOTUS: Torres v. Madrid argued today
Torres v. Madrid, 19-292: Issue: Whether an unsuccessful attempt to detain a suspect by use of physical force is a “seizure” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 8th, 9th and 11th … Continue reading
S.D.Miss.: Def was seized when his car was blocked by a police car and officer approached; there was no RS
Defendant’s car was practically blocked in a parking lot by a police car, and the officer got out and approached him. A reasonable person would not feel free to leave, and he was seized without reasonable suspicion. United States v. … Continue reading
CA11: A move-on order isn’t usually a 4A violation
In terminating a consent decree involving how the City of Miami deals with homeless people, the Eleventh Circuit notes that a move-on order isn’t usually a Fourth Amendment violation. Peery v. City of Miami, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 31175 (11th … Continue reading
MN: Driver’s potential violation of a pretrial release condition justified extending stop
The driver’s potential violation of a pretrial release condition observed by the officer was sufficient justification for extending a traffic stop first based on failure to signal. Violation of a condition of release could be a criminal violation. State v. … Continue reading
TN: Parole search is a question of standing
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenge defendant’s parole search. In fact, “Because the search was a condition of his parole, the petitioner does not have standing to contest the search. Oody, 823 S.W.2d at 560; Turner, 297 S.W.3d at … Continue reading
DE: “Being advised of potential lawful authority is not a violation of Fourth Amendment Rights.”
“Advising a person of legitimate consequences [of a BAC test] is not considered coercion. Being advised of potential lawful authority is not a violation of Fourth Amendment Rights.” State v. Street, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 2791 (Sept. 17, 2020). When … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: OFAC sanction blocking transaction wasn’t a 4A seizure
The Office of Foreign Asset Control’s sanctions for certain transactions that results in a block of the transaction wasn’t a Fourth Amendment seizure. US VC Partners GP LLC v. United States Dep’t of the Treasury, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170713 … Continue reading