Archives
-
Recent Posts
- Bloomberg Law: Texas’ 100-Plus Year Investigatory Tool Ruled Unconstitutional
- D.Minn.: State law permits POs to conduct “unannounced visits” and that includes unannounced warrantless searches
- E.D.Va.: Three images from ALPR in 30 days wasn’t enough for a Carpenter violation
- CA5: The 4A doesn’t limit the number of officers that show up for an administrative search
- D.Idaho: The exclusionary rule does not apply in pretrial release revocations
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
-
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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (27,400+ on WordPress as of 7/23/24) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
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
-
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)
-
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 -
"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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Subpoenas / Nat’l Security Letters
Bloomberg Law: Texas’ 100-Plus Year Investigatory Tool Ruled Unconstitutional
Bloomberg Law: Texas’ 100-Plus Year Investigatory Tool Ruled Unconstitutional by Ryan Autullo (“A federal magistrate judge has struck down a 100-plus year old Texas statute authorizing the state’s attorney general to investigate certain businesses and organizations for violating state laws. … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Pipe on console of MMJ card holder not PC for plain view
A pipe on the car console of a MMJ card holder was not “immediately apparent” it was incriminating for plain view. United States v. Vasquez, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174528 (N.D. Okla. Sep. 25, 2024). Plaintiff filed his Fourth Amendment … Continue reading
CA1: GFE applies to alleged staleness of SW
Defendant operated a pill-making operation in his house for years without detection. He moved to a new place without suspicion for it. The warrant for the prior house was not sufficiently stale to still be valid under the good faith … Continue reading
Cal.4: Defense subpoena for social media records was not improperly issued and enforced; holders of records got to be heard under SCA
Denying the state’s motion to quash a criminal subpoena duces tecum issued to social media companies was not error. Under the Stored Communications Act, the trial court allowed the companies an opportunity to be heard, conducted a sufficient analysis of … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: State admin. health and safety SW against private ICE jail not enjoined
The State of Washington got an administrative search warrant for a workplace inspection of a private jail operating for immigration. The jail sought federal removal and an injunction which is denied. Washington state law requires these workplace inspections, and GEO’s … Continue reading
MT: State investigative subpoena for medical records requires showing of PC
An investigative subpoena for protected medical records must be based on probable cause. Here, there was objective facts in addition to defendant’s DUI prior that showed probable cause. State v. Hesser, 2024 MT 134, 2024 Mont. LEXIS 686 (June 25, … Continue reading
OH10: Alleged violation of prosecutor’s subpoena power not subject to exclusionary rule; also, subject matter was third party record
A violation of the state prosecuting attorney’s subpoena power in felony cases was not subject to the exclusionary rule. In addition, obtaining third party information from an IP address is not a search. State v. Diaw, 2024-Ohio-2237, 2024 Ohio App. … Continue reading
NE: LEO’s statutory jurisdictional authority is not an unreasonable search and seizure question
A law enforcement officer’s statutory power and authority to enforce laws outside of the officer’s primary jurisdiction does not implicate the Fourth Amendment or article I, § 7, of the Nebraska Constitution. State v. Hoehn, 316 Neb. 634 (May 17, … Continue reading
CA7: No standing in a stolen car; PC anyway for automobile exception
Defendant was driving a stolen car. He had no standing in it. Besides, the search was good under the automobile exception with probable cause. United States v. Ostrum, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 10076 (7th Cir. Apr. 25, 2024). The Labor … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Indictment for possession of switches to convert handguns to machine guns justified vehicle search when defendant was stopped
Defendant was indicted for possession of conversion devices to make handguns machine guns. That justified search of his car when he was stopped. United States v. Berríos-Aquino, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66657 (D.P.R. Apr. 4, 2024). The DEA subpoena for … Continue reading
CA11: Def claims he was talking with a VA clinician, but it was a CI; no REP in conversation
Defendant was ultimately accused of theft of government funds and false statements about his VA benefits. A phone call with an informant was recorded. He claims he thought it was a clinician with whom he had a reasonable expectation of … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Parole search condition justified extending the stop
There was reasonable suspicion for continuing the stop, then probable cause. “Even absent probable cause, the search of Mr. Watson’s car was permissible as a search pursuant to a parole condition.” That alone justified extending the stop. United States v. … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Administrative SDT to Starbucks is reasonable in scope
An administrative subpoena duces tecum to Starbucks is enforced. It is reasonable in scope. Su v. Starbucks Corp., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179355 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 4, 2023):
DC: Facebook can’t assert 1A or 4A privacy of posts under SCA
Facebook and the District of Columbia are litigating a subpoena from the D.C. A.G. over alleged Covid misinformation. There is no expectation of privacy in what is posted on Facebook. “May” divulge in the Store Communications Act is an excuse … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: A records preservation request to cell phone providers was not a seizure
A records preservation letter sent to cell phone providers was not a seizure, let alone an unreasonable one. The records were later secured by search warrant. United States v. Zwiefelhofer, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134679 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 2, 2023). … Continue reading
PA: Officers knocked before entry and defendant acknowledged their presence
Failure to comply with the knock and announce requirement could result in exclusion under state law. Here, however, the trial court’s findings of fact justified dispensing with the knock-and-announce requirement. Officers heard defendant acknowledge their presence, and then they entered … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Subpoena to Microsoft to attempt to show it was a state actor in NCMEC report is quashed as burdensome
Defendant’s Rule 17 subpoena to Microsoft to attempt to show that the cybertip to NCMEC was not a private search is quashed as unreasonable and burdensome. United States v. Burley, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96642 (N.D. Cal. June 2, 2023)*:
TN: By killing one’s host, guest standing is lost
By attacking and killing his hosts, his parents, defendant lost guest standing, if he would have had it at all. Police conducted a welfare check and found severed body parts in plastic tubs and on the stove, including a head … Continue reading
WY: Inventory policy reasonably permitted opening containers
The inventory policy reasonably permitted opening containers. Beckwith v. State, 2023 WY 39, 2023 Wyo. LEXIS 39 (Apr. 27, 2023). Years after a seizure but still pre-indictment, the plaintiff sought return of property while the government was still investigating. It’s … Continue reading
SCOTUS has a third-party records tax summons case, but not necessarily a 4A case, yet; it might become one
Added to Most Recent SCOTUS cases is Polselli v. Internal Revenue Service, 21-1599, cert. gr. Dec. 9, 2022, argument Mar. 29, 2023 (ScotusBlog). It is a third-party records summons case where the parties’ cert papers don’t even mention the Fourth … Continue reading