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Recent Posts
- CA8: Admission of anonymous tip that led to stop violated Confrontation Clause
- CO: Anonymous report of student smoking pot in school justified backpack search
- CA6: CI’s lie to get into def’s house to video him making a drug deal with the CI didn’t violate 4A
- TN: Def lived in a van left wide open in a public area, but it didn’t belong to him, so no REP as to interior
- VI: Despite ubiquity of cell phones, nexus has to be shown to alleged crime
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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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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)
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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)
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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: Cell site location information
CA11: Without Carpenter having already been made retroactive, it can’t support a successor habeas
Without Carpenter having already been made retroactive, it can’t support a successor habeas. In re Toth, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 29956 (11th Cir. Sept. 18, 2020). The record supports the district court’s conclusion defendant consented to the search of his … Continue reading
CA11: Carpenter isn’t retroactive; successor habeas denied
Defendant’s CSLI claim can’t be brought as a successor habeas petition. Carpenter isn’t retroactive. In re Witherspoon, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 29717 (11th Cir. Sept. 17, 2020). Defendant was in a stolen vehicle and had a backpack in it while … Continue reading
E.D.La.: Stone precludes CSLI claims from before Carpenter was decided
2254 petitioner was barred from a CSLI claim because it wasn’t raised in state court where he had an opportunity to litigate. It’s no defense to attempt to overcome Stone preclusion that Carpenter came after the trial court decision because … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: No REP in one’s criminal history from examination
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in an inmate’s criminal history search that led to a detainer. Brink v. Herron, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162680 (D. Ariz. Aug. 7, 2020). Defendant’s application for a successor 2255 based on defense … Continue reading
techdirt.com: Secret Service Latest To Use Data Brokers To Dodge Warrant Requirements For Cell Site Location Data
techdirt.com: Secret Service Latest To Use Data Brokers To Dodge Warrant Requirements For Cell Site Location Data by Tim Cushing (“Another federal law enforcement agency has figured out a way to dodge warrant requirements for historical cell site location data. … Continue reading
IA: No REP in contents of car visible by flashlight in a hotel parking lot
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in the inside of a car in a hotel parking lot that could be seen by an officer with a flashlight. State v. Bean, 2020 Iowa App. LEXIS 825 (Aug. 19, 2020). The … Continue reading
AZ: Offer of proof would be helpful for Franks claim, and def didn’t make one here
“As noted above, however, some of these alleged omissions and misstatements are simply not supported by the record. And, the omissions that are supported by the record were not material given the strength of the evidence supporting a finding of … Continue reading
NM: Calls to murder victim’s cell phone just before murder was PC to get CSLI on the phone
A shooting victim made and received cell phone calls to his phone and the calls were not in the contacts list 30 minutes before the victim was found dead. This was probable cause for data about that caller including the … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Failure to keep patrol car camera “serviceable” doesn’t bear on RS
“Finally, Imhoff argues that Trooper Fetterhoff violated the Montana Highway Patrol’s code of conduct by failing to keep his interior camera “serviceable.” … Again, even assuming that Fetterhoff violated policy, any such violation would not bear on the sole relevant … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Illustrative list in SW satisfies particularity
Use of an illustrative list helps show particularity of the search warrant. United States v. Messalas, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123735 (E.D. N.Y. July 10, 2020). The video of the stop supports justification for the stop. State v. Rivera, 2020 … Continue reading
CA6: CSLI 7 years before Carpenter subject to GFE
Two months of CSLI seven years before Carpenter was subject to the good faith exception. United States v. Pritchard, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 21030 (6th Cir. July 7, 2020)* (a valiant try based on the circuit’s Warshak email decision). “What … Continue reading
PA: Police getting SW for CSLI they already had after Carpenter was reasonable
Carpenter was decided three weeks before defendant’s trial. The state then sought a search warrant to supplement its having already obtained the CSLI. Defendant’s motion to suppress on the eve of trial was denied. The search warrant was adequate for … Continue reading
AZ: Ex parte order in 2013 for CSLI showed PC and was constitutionally sufficient and it would be served in NJ
An ex parte court order for CSLI five years before Carpenter, and probable cause was shown. It was the functional equivalent of a search warrant. It also could be served on T-Mobile in New Jersey. State v. Conner, 2020 Ariz. … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Def’s claim the warrant for his Facebook account is akin to Carpenter and CSLI fails as completely speculative and an admitted “guess”
United States v. Cox, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97326 (N.D. Ind. June 3, 2020):
CA10: Admission of CSLI evidence requires a witness for confrontation purposes
CSLI information obtained by warrant still requires a witness to explain them for confrontation purposes. State v. Lawson, 2020-Ohio-3004, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1952 (10th Dist. May 19, 2020). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not moving to suppress CSLI three … Continue reading
NE: Indicia linking def to premises searched could be subject of SW; affidavit didn’t need a detailed explanation of CODIS for magistrate
Obtaining defendant’s CSLI in February 2017, 16 months before Carpenter, was in good faith and reasonable. That information could thus be used in an affidavit for search warrant for his house because probable cause was otherwise shown for it. Also, … Continue reading
CA5: 4 questions in 35 seconds at immigration checkpoint were reasonable
Four questions in 35 seconds at an immigration checkpoint were reasonable and for immigration purposes, not general crime control. United States v. Avery, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 15034 (5th Cir. May 11, 2020). A random LPN check showed the owner’s … Continue reading
NY3: Even if CSLI was wrongly obtained, it was harmless error
Assuming, without deciding, that obtaining defendant’s CSLI in a knife attack case was unreasonable, it was harmless error on this record. Plenty of other evidence connected him. People v. Perez, 2020 NY Slip Op 02684, 2020 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS … Continue reading