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- N.D.Tex.: AUSA can summarize what the gov’t knows for SW application
- S.D.N.Y.: No right to quash SCA warrant before execution; remedies are after
- S.D.N.Y.: SW not based on mere speculation
- D.Mont.: Officers had RS for stop; it wasn’t based on the race of the suspects
- M.D.Pa.: SW for phone 19 months after alleged crimes showed PC
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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)
--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. 
Monthly Archives: October 2023
E.D.Wis.: No REP in common area of apt building, despite state law to contrary
Rejecting state law to the contrary, the district court holds that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in the common area of an apartment building under the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Love, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186921 (E.D. … Continue reading
OR: State const. doesn’t bar checking for warrants during traffic stop
Officers are not prohibited under the state constitution from checking for outstanding warrants during a traffic stop, during a lull or not. There are valid safety and policy reasons for it. State v. Civil, 328 Or App 662, 2023 Ore. … Continue reading
OH5: No showing of PC and no GFE for SW for Google search history
The search warrant for defendant’s Google search history lacked any justification of why it would produce evidence, that it was even used in planning or executing the alleged crime. It was bare bones, and the good faith exception does not … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: Justification for a protective sweep remained despite 10 hour wait outside
Despite officers waiting outside for about ten hours and seeing no movement from inside, a protective sweep was still objectively reasonable on the totality. People were unaccounted for, and there was a gun and drugs seen from outside the door. … Continue reading
MI: Long Lake Twp. v. Maxon drone case argued today
The Traverse City MI drone flyover case goes before the Michigan Supreme Court today at 10 am ET. The oral argument link: 164948 Long Lake Township v Todd Maxon. See, e.g., Law360: Mich. Top Court To Decide If Drone Searches … Continue reading
CO: REP in Google search history which also implicates freedom of expression
“First, the court concludes that, under the Colorado Constitution, the defendant has a constitutionally protected privacy interest in his Google search history even when revealed only in connection with his IP address and not his name and that, under both … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: Pretextual claim of emergency aid exception to conduct a drug search leads to suppression
Defendant was having a seizure in his underwear on the street, about two blocks from his home. Officers could tell the smell of PCP about him. Officers went to his house and the door was cracked. Looking through the door, … Continue reading
E.D.Wis: Faced with motion to suppress DNA evidence, govt can seek it again
The government obtained DNA and defendant moved to suppress. Then the government sought DNA by warrant again with a new warrant. It is permitted to do so. United States v. Watson, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185148 (E.D. Wis. Oct. 16, … Continue reading
PA: State obligated to raise all possible issues in defense of warrantless search in trial court
The state is obliged to raise whatever issues it can in defense of a warrantless search at the hearing. Piecemeal litigation by motion to reconsider must be avoided. Commonwealth v. Smith, 2023 PA Super 205, 2023 Pa. Super. LEXIS 482 … 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
E.D.Pa.: Officer’s question about firearms in car made def unreasonably nervous
During a traffic stop, the officer’s question about weapons in the car resulted in defendant’s getting unusually nervous, his breathing completely changing where his chest rose and fell, and he refused to look the officer in the eye. That was … Continue reading
WSJ: How Ads on Your Phone Can Aid Government Surveillance
WSJ: How Ads on Your Phone Can Aid Government Surveillance by Byron Tau, Andrew Mollica, Patience Haggis, and Dustin Volz (“Information from mobile-phone apps and advertising networks paints a richly detailed portrait of the online activities of billions of devices. … Continue reading
WI: Forensic search of electronics two months after seizure didn’t violate state statute on execution of SW
A search warrant was timely “executed” when the electronic device was seized within five days per the warrant and state law, even though the forensic search didn’t take place for two more months. “[W]e emphasize that in this appeal Drachenberg … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: CA6 previously suggested cell phone on drug trafficker was nexus to evidence, so GFE at least applied
The Sixth Circuit has suggested that a cell phone on the person of a drug trafficker likely has evidence of drug trafficking on it, so the cell phone warrant was issued with probable cause. Even if not, the good faith … Continue reading
TX5: Even with legalized hemp, smell of MJ from car is still PC
The smell of marijuana from a vehicle is probable cause even if legal hemp can be mistaken for it. State v. Gonzales, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 7827 (Tex. App. – Dallas Oct. 12, 2023). Plaintiff’s claim for false arrest for … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Seizure of cell phone incident to arrest not invalid because it preceded actual arrest
Seizure of defendant’s cell phone incident to arrest wasn’t unreasonable just because it was seized before the arrest. United States v. Garg, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183140 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 11, 2023). An extraneous name appearing in a warrant affidavit … Continue reading
CA9: Passenger has standing to challenge reasonableness of length of stop
Defendant passenger had standing to challenge the length of the stop because it was his detention, too. There was, however, reasonable suspicion for that. United States v. Alvarez, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 26980 (9th Cir. Oct. 10, 2023). “Stiff failed … Continue reading
NPR: ‘Too dangerous’: Why even Google was afraid to release this technology
NPR: ‘Too dangerous’: Why even Google was afraid to release this technology by Bobby Allyn (“Imagine strolling down a busy city street and snapping a photo of a stranger then uploading it into a search engine that almost instantaneously helps … Continue reading
CA11: Pretext for a criminal search can be an issue in administrative searches
Pretext for a criminal search can be an issue in administrative searches. “Accordingly, the district court erred in failing to recognize the existence of a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the February 2015 administrative search was focused … Continue reading