Temporary immobility of a car doesn’t prevent the automobile exception from applying. (This is after a remand for a probable cause finding. The court also discusses the good faith exception and the court must guard against the exception swallowing the exclusionary rule.) State v. Julius, 2026 N.C. App. LEXIS 86 (Feb. 4, 2026) (2-1).
The court of appeals cursorily finds the stop valid and then a consent to a dog sniff and then search. State v. Thompson, 2026-Ohio-398 (11th Dist. Feb. 9, 2026).*
There was probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest for alleged crimes he wasn’t convicted of, so he doesn’t state a claim. Hughes v. District of Columbia, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26586 (D.D.C. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Religion News Service: Cardinal Cupich says feds stopped priests, demanded citizenship proof by Jack Jenkins & Aleja Hertzler-McCain (“‘I’ve had some priests who are of a different color being targeted and arrested — stopped — because of their color and asking them to prove that they’re citizens. That’s not America,’ the Chicago cardinal said.”)
Posted inimmigration stops|Comments Off on Kavanaugh stops: Religion News Service: Cardinal Cupich says feds stopped priests, demanded citizenship proof
Defendant’s motion to suppress alleged the impropriety of the stop. At the suppression hearing, however, the defense expanded it to include a lack of probable cause for a car search. The state was not on notice by the motion, and the suppression order is reversed. State v. Henderson, 2026-Ohio-380, 2026 Ohio App. LEXIS 441 (1st Dist. Feb. 6, 2026).
Reasonable suspicion isn’t needed for x-raying luggage at the border. “Nor did the officers need reasonable suspicion before cutting the luggage. The Court agrees with the Magistrate Judge that once the officers found anomalies in between the linings of the suitcases and the x-rays indicated that there were objects in those areas, the officers had sufficient suspicion to cut open the bags.” United States v. Browne, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25858 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 6, 2026),* R&R 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 273782 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 31, 2025).*
Defendant was on a Polish flagged sailboat 150 miles north of Colombia when it was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to non-U.S. citizens outside of the U.S. United States v. Ballesteros, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25840 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Posted inBorder search, Foreign searches, Waiver|Comments Off on OH6: Motion to suppress alleged stop was invalid, but at hearing def switched to lack of PC for search, and that’s waived by lack of notice to state
The search warrant for defendant’s cell phone authorized both seizure and search of the phone, and the trial court was clearly erroneous in concluding that it did not permit a search, too. (The officer admitted working off a template cell phone warrant application and warrant, not that it mattered.) State v. Blakely, 2026 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 4 (Feb. 6, 2026).
“The Government in this case has made a strong showing demonstrating the reliability of the CS’s information. Not only was the information provided by the CS about Swift’s physical appearance, Swift’s business, and the vehicle Swift drives-all of which was independently corroborated by the officers-there was also physical surveillance, audio surveillance, and most importantly multiple controlled buys.” [Aren’t the buys enough?] United States v. Swift, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26116 (N.D. Ind. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Under Minnesota law, petitioner had no right to intervene in a criminal case for access to bodycams that had nothing to do with him. They were in the digital system for a motion to suppress and later became unnecessary. Hardin v. State, 2026 Minn. App. LEXIS 55 (Jan. 28, 2026).*
Salon: AI is automating injustice in American policing by Nicholas Liu (“AI has raised deep concerns about police power and the erosion of rights, finding scapegoats instead of solutions.”):
In executing a sex trafficking warrant in the wintertime (Detroit, 1/14/25), the minor victim they’d pinged for her whereabouts was handcuffed and left outside for a while. It was never apparent until inside the third floor was someone’s separate residence. The warrant was validly executed, but the alleged sex trafficking victim was mistreated by taking outside without adequate clothing. [According to Weather Underground, the high that day was 21º and the low 14º.] United States v. Phillips, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25679 n.5 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 8, 2026):
Military officers working the gate at Fort Bragg had reasonable suspicion defendant was driving under the influence when he was stopped for random inspection before entry into the base. It ripened to probable cause. United States v. Lock, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25560 (E.D.N.C. Feb. 5, 2026).
Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claim arose in 2018, and Colorado law gives two years. He waited until 2024 to file the claim. Dismissed. Deleon v. Linnemeyer, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25656 (D. Colo. Feb. 6, 2026).*
The tip said defendant claimed to have 100 guns. When his house was searched, five were found. That led to a fair inference the others were in his storage unit. (As to one of the challenged searches, when no evidence is seized in a particular search, there is nothing to suppress.) United States v. Payne, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25654 (D. Colo. Feb. 6, 2026).*
Defendant was under state supervision. Officers conducted a residence check and opened the oven finding three firearms. That search was reasonable. United States v. Hoang, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24056 (M.D. La. Feb. 5, 2026).
Defendant was found sleeping in a car, and the officer saw a firearm. He asked for defendant’s ID before returning the gun, and this was reasonable for safety’s sake. United States v. Rivers, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24121 (E.D. Mo. Jan. 6, 2026).*
Defendant was arrested for drugs and taken to jail. A search warrant was prepared, and defendant bailed out and got back in time to be there for the search. There was probable cause for the warrant. State v. Smith, 2026-Ohio-359 (7th Dist. Feb. 4, 2026).*
The fact a drug dog can alert to hemp as well as marijuana doesn’t make the dog alert violate the Fourth Amendment. Akins v. State, 2026 Ind. App. LEXIS 39 (Feb. 6, 2026):
Being handcuffed on the ground doesn’t negate search incident to arrest. United States v. Dominguez, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24803 (D. Neb. Feb. 6, 2026).
On arrest on I-235, defendant’s vehicle was subject to being towed and inventoried. The court rejects that inventory was a ruse. United States v. Ingram, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25081 (W.D. Okla. Feb. 6, 2026).*
The state’s ability to appeal suppression or exclusion of evidence is limited to motion to suppress for constitutional violations and maybe statutory ones, not limiting 404(b) evidence. State v. Crawford, 2026 OK CR 4 (Feb. 5, 2026).*
Posted inInventory, Search incident|Comments Off on D.Neb.: SI valid even though def handcuffed face down
Even in juvenile detention, there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy in jail calls. In re C.C., 2026-Ohio-374, 2026 Ohio App. LEXIS 437 (2d Dist. Feb. 6, 2026).
“Tyson, while failing to cite any binding authority in support of his position, essentially calls upon the Court to divine new Independent Source doctrine. The Court will not take up that task here.” And, he cites no authority for his proposition. United States v. Tyson, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24648 (E.D. Va. Feb. 5, 2026).*
Having three female CBP officer shifts at the Port of Tampa at night for searches of female travelers was shown to be a BFOQ. Not Title VII violation. Anderson v. Secretary, DHS, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 3800 (11th Cir. Feb. 6, 2026).*
The search warrant for defendant’s vehicle’s GPS system used in his indictment for drug trafficking was based on probable cause. It also tracked the language of his cell phone warrant. United States v. Haymon, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24462 (D.N.D. Feb. 5, 2026).
“[P]resuming the truth of all Reeves’s well-pleaded assertions of fact, a reasonable jury could conclude that this was a circumstance where little to no force was warranted to effectuate Reeves’s arrest and that the arresting officers used excessive force when they ‘slammed’ him against a wall, as well as when they continued to cuff Reeves behind his back despite his complaints of pain and his alerting the officers that doing so exacerbated Reeves’s previous injuries. Defendants’ motion to dismiss the federal and state excessive force claims is denied.” Reeves v. City of N.Y., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24375 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 5, 2026).*
Franks challenge fails over omissions. “[T]he Court agrees with [Magistrate] Judge Senechal’s determination that, even if Officer Gossen had included the omitted information in his declaration, the reviewing judge may still have found probable cause for the warrant.” United States v. Griffien, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24464 (D.N.D. Feb. 5, 2026).*
There’s a dispute for the jury whether there was reasonable suspicion for plaintiff’s continued detention. The stop was based on an anonymous tip, and plaintiff didn’t match it, which the officers had to know. Jarvis v. City of Daytona Beach, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 3795 (11th Cir. Feb. 6, 2026).* [And I always wondered how we’d instruct a jury on reasonable suspicion so it makes sense to them.]:
Petitioner had his opportunity to litigate his Fourth Amendment claim in state court and did, and the outcome doesn’t matter. The fact that he could do so does. CoA denied. Bugno v. Walters, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 3780 (6th Cir. Feb. 5, 2026)*:
Here, the state showed probable cause and reasonableness to seek DNA from defendant to compare it to alleged touch DNA found on the firearm he’s alleged to have possessed in threatening two ADAs. People v. Hightower, 2026 NY Slip Op 50106(U), 2026 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 424 (N.Y. Co. Jan. 20, 2026):
Postal workers have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their work trucks. It’s owned by the USPS and others always have access and they well know they are subject to surveillance on the job. United States v. Ayala, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23757 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 5, 2026).
The government adequately showed necessity of naming suspects in its Title III application to install a CCTV in defendant’s garage. The pole camera outside was thought by the government to be inadequate to identify international suspects. United States v. Carrazco-Martinez, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 3726 (7th Cir. Feb. 5, 2026).*
The cell phone extraction suppression motion is granted. The phone was delivered to the extractor outside of the 10-day window, and that’s important in New York. People v. Haye, 2026 NY Slip Op 50105(U), 2026 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 413 (N.Y. Co. Jan. 29, 2026).*
Plaintiff sued Flock because he was stopped but then released because his LPN was put on a “hot list” by police, apparently mistakenly. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his LPN, and his stop was by the police, not Flock. They just gathered the information which was not a tort, misrepresentation, or outrageous conduct. Smith v. Flock Grp. Inc., 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 3864 (6th Cir. Feb. 6, 2026) [an order, not full opinion, so not on CA6 website].
Officers get qualified immunity for suppressing a 3:30 am wedding party fight in a hotel lobby that resulted in a 911 call. Camarca v. City of Covington Police Dep’t, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 3699 (6th Cir. Feb. 4, 2026).*
Defendant’s stop for an open container was based on the officer’s observation, and that permitted him to check for outstanding warrants on defendant. United States v. Sumlin, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23809 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 5, 2026).*
The use of confidential taxpayer information by ICE for immigration raids without any statutorily required procedures is enjoined. There is also the problem of no judicial warrant from judicial officer, just an immigration judge if at all. Cmty. Econ. Dev. Ctr. of Se. Mass. v. Bessent, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24212 (D. Mass. Feb. 5, 2026)*:
Because plaintiff filed his FTCA case before the six-month window was up, the court lacks jurisdiction over it. There is also a Bivens claim for execution of a search warrant which the court finds different than Bivens. Wood v. United States, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23761 (D. Md. Feb. 5, 2026).
Summary judgment was denied on the disputed facts and not reaching qualified immunity. Remanded for qualified immunity analysis, too. Simmons v. Shobert, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 3619 (10th Cir. Feb. 5, 2026).*
No qualified immunity for alleged gratuitous use of force on a handcuffed suspect. Holman v. Wiggs, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22997 (M.D.N.C. Feb. 4, 2026).*
"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]
“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.
