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- VI: Wife had apparent authority to consent to search for firearm in bedroom, even if they didn’t share it
- GA: SW for air bag module and vehicle black box issued with PC and was particular
- W.D.N.Y.: Just saying the Stone bar is “misplaced” isn’t an answer
- OH2: Motion to suppress not proper to challenge authentication of a record for trial
- IN: Greyhound bus subject to automobile exception because dog alerted on luggage compartment
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (discontinued 2018)
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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 -
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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)
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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) -
“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)
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Category Archives: Surveillance technology
GA: SW for air bag module and vehicle black box issued with PC and was particular
This search warrant for the Airbag Control Modules and the vehicle’s black box was issued on probable cause and was particular in a vehicular homicide case. Hutchins v. State, 2025 Ga. App. LEXIS 134 (Mar. 13, 2025):
New Law Review: Orin S. Kerr, Data Scanning and the Fourth Amendment
Orin S. Kerr, Data Scanning and the Fourth Amendment, Stanford Law School Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series (Mar. 12, 2025): Abstract:
The Guardian: ICE accessed car trackers in sanctuary cities that could help in raids, files show
The Guardian: ICE accessed car trackers in sanctuary cities that could help in raids, files show by Johana Bhuiyan:
Reason: Detroit Police Wrongly Arrested Woman After Facial Recognition Tech Misidentified Her as Shooting Culprit
Reason: Detroit Police Wrongly Arrested Woman After Facial Recognition Tech Misidentified Her as Shooting Culprit by Emma Camp (“Last year, Detroit police wrongly arrested LaDonna Crutchfield after facial recognition software incorrectly identified her as the culprit of a shooting, according … Continue reading
ABA: Considering Face Value: The Complex Legal Implications of Facial Recognition Technology
Michael Christopher Naught, Considering Face Value: The Complex Legal Implications of Facial Recognition Technology (ABA Criminal Justice Jan. 20, 2025): The increasing adoption of FRT and AI necessitates careful examination of their legal and ethical ramifications. These cutting-edge technologies raise … Continue reading
ABA CJ: Predictive Policing Algorithms and the Fourth Amendment
Dominic A. Weiss, Predictive Policing Algorithms and the Fourth Amendment, ABA Criminal Justice 15 (Winter 2025) Leveraging Predictive Policing Algorithms to Restore Fourth Amendment Protections in High-Crime Areas in a Post-Wardlow World by Kelly Koss. Abstract:
Wired: License Plate Readers Are Leaking Real-Time Video Feeds and Vehicle Data
Wired: License Plate Readers Are Leaking Real-Time Video Feeds and Vehicle Data (“This trove of real-time vehicle data, collected by one of Motorola’s [automated license-plate-recognition] systems, is meant to be accessible by law enforcement. However, a flaw discovered by a … Continue reading
E.D.La.: ALPR tracking of def’s vehicle to connect to a robbery wasn’t 4A violation
Defendant’s argument ALPR tracking of her vehicle connecting it and her to a Hobbs Act bar robbery in New Orleans is akin to CSLI is rejected. There aren’t that many cameras in the city, and the information produced was really … Continue reading
Tech Policy Press, California’s Surveillance Systems Have Once Again Become a Major Liability
Tech Policy Press, California’s Surveillance Systems Have Once Again Become a Major Liability by Nicole A. Ozer & Matt Cagle (“In recent decades, surveillance has increased exponentially across California. Politicians and business leaders promised that the proliferation of cameras, automated … Continue reading
LA Times: Is your car spying on you? What it means that Tesla shared data in the Las Vegas explosion
LA Times: Is your car spying on you? What it means that Tesla shared data in the Las Vegas explosion by Bernard Condon (“Your car is spying on you. [¶] That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that … Continue reading
LR Article: Back to the Future: Revisiting State Constitutions to Protect Against New Technological Intrusions
Matthew Radford, Back to the Future: Revisiting State Constitutions to Protect Against New Technological Intrusions, 81 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1641 (2024). Abstract:
POGO: Federal Acquisition of Commercially Available Information
Project on Government Oversight: Federal Acquisition of Commercially Available Information by Don Bell (pdf)
404 Media: Location Data Firm Offers to Help Cops Track Targets via Doctor Visits
404 Media: Location Data Firm Offers to Help Cops Track Targets via Doctor Visits by Joseph Cox (“A location data company is asking police for the address of specific people’s doctors in case that can be useful in finding their … Continue reading
TN: Def’s dashcam was searched with a warrant
Defendant had a dashcam, and the officer got a warrant for it. While the video was bad, the audio supported the basis for the stop. State v. Callahan, 2024 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 546 (Dec. 6, 2024).* There was reasonable … Continue reading
NY3: No REP in SHU surveillance
Defendant was in a special housing unit in a NY state prison. He knew he was under constant surveillance. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in admissions he made caught on video. People v. Ashcroft, 2024 NY Slip Op … Continue reading
Hell Gate: 83 Percent of ShotSpotter Alerts Might Not Have Been Gunfire at All
Hell Gate: 83 Percent of ShotSpotter Alerts Might Not Have Been Gunfire at All by Nick Pinto (“ShotSpotter, the gunshot detection system used by the NYPD since 2015, doesn’t work—if what you mean by ‘work’ is ‘accurately alert police to … Continue reading
Salon: “It is a weapon”: Ronan Farrow discusses the spyware in our pockets in “Surveilled”
Salon: “It is a weapon”: Ronan Farrow discusses the spyware in our pockets in “Surveilled” by Gary M. Kramer (“You never know [spyware] was there. It copies everything on your phone and it leaves” … “The cogent documentary, ‘Surveilled,’ now … Continue reading
Digital Information World: Did You Just Agree to Be Tracked? Apps Secretly Fuel Government Surveillance!
Digital Information World: Did You Just Agree to Be Tracked? Apps Secretly Fuel Government Surveillance! by Asim BN: ________* Just another government contract?