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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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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
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LexisWeb
LII State Appellate 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 
Monthly Archives: March 2015
LA Times: Whittier police officers sue, say they were forced to meet quotas
LA Times: Whittier police officers sue, say they were forced to meet quotas by Veronica Rocha Six Whittier police officers are suing the city, saying they faced retaliation when they complained and refused to meet alleged ticket and arrest quotas.
NYTimes (AP): Florida: Drug Testing Law Is Dropped
NYTimes (AP): Florida: Drug Testing Law Is Dropped Gov. Rick Scott will not seek United States Supreme Court review of a law that would have required applicants for welfare benefits to submit to drug testing.
MA: No reasonable expectation of privacy in blood stain on defendant’s shirt that was lawfully seized as evidence after his arrest
There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in defendant’s shirt that was lawfully seized as evidence after his arrest. Thus, a search warrant was not required to test it for DNA of the blood found on it. This was not … Continue reading
LA2: Hot pursuit valid; fleeing man with warrants led to officer seeing another inside also with warrants
The officer here was in hot pursuit of the defendant because he knew there were warrants on him and defendant fled into a house. The officer called for backup and hesitated outside for a few minutes, saw another wanted person … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: CSLI governed by SCA, and PC not yet required
Historical cell site location information is governed by the SCA, and it has sufficient Fourth Amendment protection because a showing of something is required to get the information without probable cause. Besides, the good faith exception would have to apply. … Continue reading
eff.org: In Response to EFF Lawsuit, Government Scheduled to Release More Secret Court Opinions on NSA Surveillance
eff.org: In Response to EFF Lawsuit, Government Scheduled to Release More Secret Court Opinions on NSA Surveillance by Mark Rumold: UPDATE: Late tonight, the government released to EFF the “Raw Take” opinion and the 2008 FAA opinion, described below. Those … Continue reading
Word Salad for Law Enforcement: Confidential Human Source (“CHS”), adopted by some courts
Confidential Human Source (“CHS”) v. Confidential Informant (“CI”) v. Citizen Informant (Citizen Informant) v. Snitch (Snitch) “Confidential Human Source (CHS)” appears to have started about 2003, but it’s been more popular of late in the federal system. I’ve seen it … Continue reading
Western Journalism: Private Police: Mercenaries For The American Police State
Western Journalism: Private Police: Mercenaries For The American Police State by John W. Whitehead Talk about a diabolical end run around the Constitution. It’s one thing to know and exercise your rights when a police officer pulls you over; but … Continue reading
AP: Student Arrested While Photographing Cop Takes Suit to Trial
AP: Student Arrested While Photographing Cop Takes Suit to Trial by Maryclaire Dale: A college student arrested as he photographed a Philadelphia police encounter with a homeless woman said Wednesday he tried to be “a fly on the wall” until … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice Dept. concludes that no, Michael Brown’s hands were probably not up
WaPo: Justice Dept. concludes that no, Michael Brown’s hands were probably not up by Wesley Lowery: In one of two reports released by the Department of Justice on Wednesday, federal investigators opted against charging Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson with … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: Argument summary: How does requiring a warrant interfere with surprise police searches of hotel guest registers?
SCOTUSBlog: Argument summary: How does requiring a warrant interfere with surprise police searches of hotel guest registers? by Rory Little: The first case argued Tuesday morning, City of Los Angeles v. Patel, was about whether a Los Angeles ordinance that … Continue reading
CA6: Arrest of school teacher for sex abuse of student was not based on “reasonably trustworthy” information; false arrest case can proceed
School teacher’s arrest for anally sodomizing a student at school arguably lacked probable cause, and the student’s claims were not properly and fully investigated before the arrest after the story became more and more implausible. The student gave an implausible … Continue reading
OH9: Hearing shots fired and seeing only vehicle in vicinity justified stop
Officers on patrol and parked at 2:40 am heard shots fired, and they headed in that direction. In a block, they saw a Yukon heading toward them driving slowly. There were no other vehicles or pedestrians around. They turned around … Continue reading
NE deals with this issue for the first time: Handcuffs do not automatically convert a stop on reasonable suspicion into an arrest
In Nebraska’s first case on the issue: Handcuffs do not automatically convert a stop on reasonable suspicion into an arrest. State v. Wells, 290 Neb. 186, 2015 Neb. LEXIS 34 (February 20, 2015):
D.Me.: Car with windows covered by curtains wasn’t the same as a home
2255 petitioner can’t show that he’d prevail on the merits of the search issues that counsel waived by not filing a motion to suppress. His car with windows covered by curtains wasn’t the same as a home, and it was … Continue reading
Popular Science: Your DNA Can Now Be Used Against You in Court Without Your Consent [especially if you abandoned it]
Popular Science: Your DNA Can Now Be Used Against You in Court Without Your Consent By Lydia Ramsey A Recent Refusal by the Supreme Court Means That Involuntary DNA Collection Isn’t Unconstitutional Comment: No it doesn’t. This was DNA from … Continue reading
WaPo: Justice review finds racial bias among Ferguson police
WaPo: Justice review finds racial bias among Ferguson police by Sari Horwitz: The Justice Department will issue findings this week that accuse the police department in Ferguson, Mo., of racial bias and routinely violating the constitutional rights of citizens, including … Continue reading
WAMU: A D.C. Man Walks Into A Police Station And Asks For Marijuana… And Gets It
WAMU: A D.C. Man Walks Into A Police Station And Asks For Marijuana… And Gets It by Martin Austermuhle: D.C. police often confiscate drugs during the course of searches and arrests, but now D.C. residents are legally allowed to ask … Continue reading