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)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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: Seizure
CA10: 4A claim not stated for malicious prosecution where no arrest
Plaintiff couldn’t state a Fourth Amendment claim for malicious prosecution where she was not arrested by the officer. He presented his findings to the prosecutor who filed a charge. Fisher v. Koopman, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8940 (10th Cir. May … Continue reading
OH2: Direction to def to not reach into his own pocket for a consent search wasn’t a seizure
Defendant’s attempt to reach into his own pocket did not constitute an unequivocal withdrawal of the consent to search he had given to the officer. Defendant’s conduct appeared to have been an attempt to help facilitate the search, not to … Continue reading
D.Utah: No 4A requirement for a police car in the field to have internet access to more speedily check records without radioing it in
There is no constitutional requirement for a police car in the field to have internet access to more speedily check records without radioing it in. Also, he testified that rural service is spotty. United States v. Lopez-Casillas, 2017 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
UT: Officer safety permits extending stop long enough to check passenger’s ID
“This case presents a single issue: does a law enforcement officer violate the Fourth Amendment if she requests that a passenger voluntarily provide identification and then runs a background check on that passenger without reasonable suspicion that the passenger has … Continue reading
IL: Arrest of driver would not make passengers think they were free to leave; continuation of stop was with RS
Passengers would not think they were free to leave based on the arrest and handcuffing of defendant driver. The continuation of the stop, however, was with reasonable suspicion because of furtive movements. People v. Veal, 2017 IL App (1st) 150500, … Continue reading
MD: When officers tried to stop def he fled into a high speed chase; he wasn’t seized before the chase
Defendant had warrants out and he’d called 911 and said he had a gun and he’d use it. There was reasonable suspicion for his stop before he engaged in a high speed chase. He never stopped before the chase so … Continue reading
OR: Def not seized other than traffic stop; statements admissible
Defendant was not seized beyond this being a traffic stop. Defendant’s volunteering information extended the stop. There was no other show of authority. State v. Evans, 284 Ore. App. 806, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 505 (April 19, 2017). Defendant can’t … Continue reading
AK: Street rumor supplemented by controlled buy was PC
The CI passed on information from others that was virtually only a street rumor that he then corroborated with a controlled buy. The totality was probable cause. Hart v. State, 2017 Alas. App. LEXIS 59 (April 14, 2017). The officer … Continue reading
NY Co.: Taking a “recidivist transit violator” outside the turnstiles was a reasonable detention
Plaintiff was a “recidivist transit violator” stopped for moving between cars. Taking him off the train outside the turnstiles was a reasonable detention under the state constitution. Vargas v. City of New York, 2017 NY Slip Op 27116, 2017 N.Y. … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Seizure of cell phone to preserve its evidence for a SW was reasonable
Seizure of defendant’s cell phone found near him when he was arrested was reasonable to preserve evidence until a search warrant could be obtained. United States v. Hamilton, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54953 (E.D. Mich. April 11, 2017):
MD: Determining “Miranda custody” is an objective inquiry based on the totality of circumstances
Determining “Miranda custody” is an objective inquiry based on the totality of circumstances. Brown v. State, 2017 Md. LEXIS 154 (March 27, 2017):
OR: Officer’s flashlight in the eyes at night a factor in “show of authority” for a seizure
“Additionally, there is an unresolved factual issue about how the police officers used their flashlights. If an officer uses a flashlight to block a person’s view, and thereby hinders his or her ability to leave an encounter, it could contribute … Continue reading
Crimmigration blog: ICE’s New Immigration Detainer Policy Remains Legally Flawed
Crimmigration blog: ICE’s New Immigration Detainer Policy Remains Legally Flawed: Today, ICE issued a new policy regarding use of immigration detainers. Sometimes called immigration holds, detainers are requests by ICE that a local law enforcement agency continue holding someone in … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: A stolen laptop from a prison medical provider wasn’t a “search”
A laptop of the medical provider was stolen, and plaintiff was told that his medical information may have been on it. He sued claiming a violation of the Fourth Amendment. This doesn’t state a claim. A stolen laptop is not … Continue reading
IL: Dropping bottle when officer rolled down his window and said “come here” was not in response to a seizure
Defendant abandoned bottle of cannabis by dropping it when the officer rolled down his window and said “come here.” The court spends many paragraphs agreeing with the trial court that defendant hadn’t been seized at that point because it was … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Telling def to stop moving his hands in a car wasn’t a seizure
Telling defendant to stop moving his hands around while he’s sitting in a car isn’t a “seizure.” When defendant complied, the officer who stopped him could see the corner of a baggie for drugs in plain view on the console, … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Co. that rented vehicles to another for rental to public had standing to sue over seizure
Plaintiffs stated a Fourth Amendment claim against the City for warrantless seizure of its motorized three-wheeled vehicles. The fact one plaintiff rented them to another in exchange for a share of the profits, and they were seized from the latter, … Continue reading