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- D.N.M.: Automobile exception search fails for lack of PC
- D.Vt.: SW for CP was specific enough to prevent a general search of devices
- M.D.Fla.: In a 2254, court can decide petitioner loses on merits or deny relief on Stone, as it chooses
- Sixth edition 15% off today
- TN: Helicopter flyover of MJ patch violated no REP
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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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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) -
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 2024
AZ: ALPR info from DEA could contribute to RS
A state officer running defendant’s car’s LPN through DEASIL (Drug Enforcement Agency Special Intelligence Link) showing its movements can contribute to reasonable suspicion. (Here, the vehicle was on a drug courier route twice before.) Also, defendant borrowed the car for … Continue reading
D.Colo.: Failure to produce paperwork promptly justifies an extension of the stop
Defendant’s failure to promptly produce the insurance information and registration on his car justified ordering him out of the car and reasonably extended the stop. United States v. Malone, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188452 (D. Colo. Oct. 16, 2024).* 2254 … Continue reading
NY3: Cell phones found in proximity to drugs isn’t PC in itself
The search warrant for defendant’s phone should have been granted. The application for the first warrant to search failed to establish probable cause. While the officer stated in the affidavit that a quantity of drugs were found in the motel … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: T.L.O. informs the use of handcuffs in school v. excessive force
T.L.O. informs the use of handcuffs in school v. excessive force. Here, the student was objectively enough of a safety risk to justify handcuffs. “Further, because the Fourth Amendment reasonableness inquiry is an objective standard, more discovery to determine Defendants’ … Continue reading
YouTube: What is the warrant requirement?
What is the warrant requirement? — YouTube from the National Constitution Center with Orin S. Kerr
IA: When there’s PC and the automobile exception, inventory irrelevant
There was probable cause for search of the car under the automobile exception so the impoundment and inventory are irrelevant. State v. Baylor, 2024 Iowa App. LEXIS 740 (Oct. 16, 2024).* Defendant’s car was parked with lights on at night … Continue reading
NC: Defendant abandoned this real property
Defendant abandoned this real property. State v. Moore, 2024 N.C. App. LEXIS 806 (Oct. 15, 2024). Failure to renew a motion to suppress when the evidence is offered is waiver in this state. State v. Rowdy, 2024 N.C. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA3: Collective knowledge applies to reasons to extend a stop
With collective knowledge there was reason to extend the stop. United States v. McAliley, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 25982 (3d Cir. Oct. 15, 2024).* (After all, collective knowledge applies to reasonable suspicion too.) The USMJ’s decision denying the motion to … Continue reading
Pre-Ordering “The Digital Fourth Amendment” by Orin S. Kerr
Reason: You Can Now Pre-Order “The Digital Fourth Amendment” by Orin S. Kerr (“My book will be out January 10th, but you can pre-order it now.” “I’m pleased to say that you can now pre-order my book, The Digital Fourth … Continue reading
YouTube: How has the Supreme Court applied the Fourth Amendment in the context of automobiles?
YouTube: How has the Supreme Court applied the Fourth Amendment in the context of automobiles? with Orin Kerr
OH3: Even where the SW return was overlooked for a year, no exclusion
The state violated its rule 41 because the return was a year late. The exclusionary rule applies to constitutional violations, not rule violations, and the trial court erred in fashioning its own exclusionary rule here. State v. Nevels, 2024-Ohio-4964, 2024 … Continue reading
CA2: That a DNA sample was potentially excludable didn’t need to be disclosed in SW affidavit
There were two DNA samples here. The fact the second was potentially subject to suppression didn’t need to be disclosed in the affidavit for more testing. United States v. Green, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 25836 (2d Cir. Oct. 15, 2024). … Continue reading
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
D.Minn.: State law permits POs to conduct “unannounced visits” and that includes unannounced warrantless searches
State law gives parole officers the power to conduct “unannounced visits.” They also don’t have to announce warrantless searches. United States v. McClendon, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186498 (D. Minn. Aug. 15, 2024).* Defendant’s trembling hands were enough to pass … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Three images from ALPR in 30 days wasn’t enough for a Carpenter violation
Police checking the database of Flock’s ALPR for defendant’s license plate revealed only three images in 30 days. The court is not inclined to hold that the mere potential of a Carpenter violation makes one. What happens hereafter might. United … Continue reading
CA5: The 4A doesn’t limit the number of officers that show up for an administrative search
This administrative search was valid. The number of officers showing up to do it isn’t a constitutional question. “Nor does the number of officers conducting the search change the inquiry. Hershner asserts no jurisprudential authority for the proposition that a … Continue reading
D.Idaho: The exclusionary rule does not apply in pretrial release revocations
The exclusionary rule does not apply in pretrial release revocations. Indeed, previously suppressed evidence can be considered on the factors for release. United States v. Cuevas, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185724 (D. Idaho Oct. 9, 2024). “Assuming without deciding that … Continue reading
CA10: State officers investigating murder on an Indian reservation without jurisdiction does not lead to suppression of evidence
State law enforcement officers investigated a murder on the Muscogee Creek Reservation which at the time was not necessarily legal but two years later was not. The murder was prosecuted in federal court. There is no dispute the officers lacked … Continue reading
CT: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil cases, here one over animal neglect
The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to civil cases, here an action over who gets possession of neglected animals. State ex rel. Dunn v. Connelly, 2024 Conn. App. LEXIS 268 (Oct. 8, 2024). This is a DUI on federal property. Even … Continue reading
OH: Negligent disposal of def’s car in impound while he was in jail wasn’t done in bad faith
Police searched defendant’s car at the impound lot, and he was sent certified mail to tell him to pick it up or it would be disposed of. They mailed it to his house while he was in jail so he … Continue reading