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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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Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
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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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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, Colorado Springs. 
Monthly Archives: November 2025
NY: 911 call that “I’ve just been shot” with a description of the car was RS
911 call that “I’ve just been shot” with a description of the car was reasonable suspicion. People v. Leighton R., 2025 NY Slip Op 06534, 2025 N.Y. LEXIS 1946 (Nov. 25, 2025):
D.D.C.: Use of biometrics to access a cell phone is not testimonial
The use of biometrics to access a cell phone is not testimonial. United States v. Blythe, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 231852 (D.D.C. Nov. 23, 2025) (interesting read). Just because defense counsel didn’t appeal a losing Fourth Amendment issue doesn’t make … Continue reading
Above the Law: Washington Post Analysis Shows We Are Talking Too Much And Getting Questionable Advice From LLMs — And It May All Be Discoverable [How about the subject of a search warrant?]
Above the Law: Washington Post Analysis Shows We Are Talking Too Much And Getting Questionable Advice From LLMs — And It May All Be Discoverable by Stephen Embry (“It’s incumbent on all of us to do all we can to … Continue reading
OH6: Def’s medical records from hospital required SW not GJ subpoena
Defendant’s hospital records were obtained by grand jury subpoena. He moved to suppress claiming that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy and a warrant was required. The court agrees, rejecting numerous arguments from the state. In addition, the court … Continue reading
VA: Second frisk was still with RS
Defendant’s second frisk was valid, despite a prior frisk not finding anything. “We have no doubt that the situation here presented such circumstances, on the heels of a possible armed robbery with suspects on the scene and the whereabouts of … Continue reading
Malwarebytes: What the Flock is happening with license plate readers?
Malwarebytes: What the Flock is happening with license plate readers? by Matt Burgess:
The Intercept: The FBI Wants AI Surveillance Drones With Facial Recognition
The Intercept: The FBI Wants AI Surveillance Drones With Facial Recognition (“The FBI is looking for ways to incorporate artificial intelligence into drones, according to federal procurement documents. On Thursday, the FBI put out the call to potential vendors of … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Fact drug dog wasn’t trained on fentanyl wasn’t defect when he alerted on it and cocaine
The drug dog wasn’t trained on fentanyl but alerted on it. It was trained on cocaine and did alert on it. That doesn’t make the dog unreliable. After probable cause developed, using the key fob to open the car wasn’t … Continue reading
MD: State’s failure to litigate standing at suppression hearing is waiver
The state’s failure to litigate standing at the suppression hearing is its waiver. On the merits, the information failed to show probable cause via collective knowledge. Seizure of bloody clothing in a bag in the hallway outside the ER was … Continue reading
CA6: Even if SW was issued without PC, it was still in good faith
Even if the warrant here was lacking probable cause, it was obtained and executed in good faith, so the suppression order is reversed. United States v. Tanzil, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 30653 (6th Cir. Nov. 20, 2025)*:
NV citizen’s arrest requires crime occur in arrestor’s presence
Defendant entered making a citizen’s arrest for a crime that did not occur in his presence. His conviction is affirmed because that’s a statutory requirement. The knock-and-announce requirement in the statute also serves an important purpose in citizen’s arrest. Ser … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: No REP against ALPR tracking LPN information
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy against ALPR tracking of a car. It’s not at all like Carpenter’s CSLI. United States v. Floyd, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 229044 (M.D. Fla. Nov. 21, 2025):
Five on habeas
The district court granted a limited CoA in this 2254 appeal. Petitioner doesn’t get to expand it to a consensual recording issue [that is frivolous]. Sontay v. Heidle, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 30613 (6th Cir. Nov. 21, 2025).* 2241 petitioner’s … Continue reading
CA6: Zoning officer’s attempting to post a stop work order was not a seizure of real property
Defendant had no constitutional right to build a greenhouse in his front yard in violation of a city zoning ordinance, and the zoning official did not seize his property by attempting to post a stop work order on it. “While … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: ICE may be seeking to cause confrontations as an excuse to use force
Chicago Headline Club v. Noem, No. 25 C 12173 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 20, 2025) (233 pages). Just as to driving:
D.Mass.: “All records” relating to wire fraud was particular enough
“The warrant here, and, specifically, the attachment describing the items to be seized, satisfied the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement. Kerrissey argues, first, that the attachment was overbroad because it authorized the seizure of ‘“all records, in whatever form” for multiple … Continue reading
OH5: Pleading guilty without seeing SW materials stated enough to get post-conviction hearing
The state’s plea offer was to plead without getting any discovery. Defendant adequately pled defense counsel was ineffective for counseling this, including waiving getting access to the search warrant materials. The trial court erred in denying a hearing. State v. … Continue reading
VA: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in revos
The exclusionary rule, along with a host of other things, doesn’t apply in revocation proceedings. Commonwealth v. Jackson, 2025 Va. LEXIS 57 (Nov. 20, 2025) (citing treatise § 9.16). The collective knowledge doctrine applies to traffic stops. United States v. … Continue reading
Reason: Lindsey Graham Is Outraged About Federal Surveillance Powers That Lindsey Graham Helped Create and Expand
Reason: Lindsey Graham Is Outraged About Federal Surveillance Powers That Lindsey Graham Helped Create and Expand by Eric Boehm (“Graham is incensed that his phone records were subpoenaed by federal prosecutors—without his knowledge—as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation … Continue reading
LAT: ICE is grabbing U.S. citizens, defying its own rules and the Constitution
And Justice Kavanagh said this wouldn’t happen: LAT: ICE is grabbing U.S. citizens, defying its own rules and the Constitution by Raul A. Reyes: