| Date | Title | Description |
| 10.01.2025 | Court To Cops: If You Can’t Prove A Warrant Existed, You Can’t Expect Us To Consider It ‘Valid’ | I don’t know what kind of warrant system they’re running in Pennsylvania, but it doesn’t sound like a good one. Either the system is deliberately broken, or the testifying cops were playing fast and loose with the facts. Whatever the case i... |
| 06.01.2025 | Another Court Says A Drug Dog Sniff Is A Search, Requires Probable Cause To Justify It | They’re going to have to change the nickname. For years, cops have referred to drug dogs as “probable cause on four legs.” But over the last half-decade or so, jurisprudence has been leaning the other way.
One of the first rulings to knock ... |
| 06.12.2024 | The Fragile Balance of Justice: When Law Enforcement Crosses the Line | In the realm of law enforcement, the balance between public safety and individual rights is a delicate dance. Recent court rulings have shone a spotlight on this tension, revealing the complexities of the Fourth Amendment and the Takings Cl... |
| 04.12.2024 | Federal Court Says Dismantling A Phone To Install Firmware Isn’t A ‘Search,’ Even If Was Done To Facilitate A Search | This is probably the correct conclusion to arrive at, at least at this point in extremely limited jurisprudence, but it still raises some questions courts will likely have to confront in the future. Is manhandling a phone to make it respons... |
| 03.12.2024 | Justices: Maybe The Takings Clause Doesn’t Cover Destroying An Innocent Person’s Home To Arrest A Suspect | This may not mean much in the grand scheme of things but it’s good to see these objections on the record. It’s incremental, but in these times, every increment helps, especially when the Supreme Court seems actively disinterested in discuss... |
| 25.11.2024 | Two Missouri Cops Are Facing Criminal Charges For Helping Themselves To Nude Photos Found On Drivers’ Phones | You can’t trust cops around your personal info, data, communications, or pretty much anything. Officers have a lot of power and access to plenty of databases filled with personal info. They abuse this power and access frequently.
Here’s som... |
| 06.11.2024 | Fourth Circuit Appeals Court Announces It’s Going To Rethink Its Geofence Warrant Decision | This is tentatively welcome news. I mean, it can’t result in anything worse than the original decision the Fourth Circuit handed down in the Chatrie case, which said there’s nothing constitutionally wrong with searching every Google user’s ... |
| 02.11.2024 | Surveillance and Sabotage: A Tale of Modern Threats | In the digital age, the lines between safety and surveillance blur. Two recent incidents illustrate this precarious balance. One involves a lawsuit against the city of Norfolk, Virginia, over its extensive network of surveillance cameras. T... |
| 31.10.2024 | Federal Court Finally Sets Some Limits On Cell Phone Ping Warrants | This is something that should have happened years ago, but I guess we can be grateful it’s happening now. And part of the reason it’s finally happening is because of the warrant requirement for obtaining historical cell site location info c... |
| 31.10.2024 | Norfolk, Virginia Residents Sue City Over Its Network Of 172 Flock Cameras | This lawsuit could not be more impeccably timed. Whether or not this timing is more fortuitous than impeccable remains to be seen, but there’s no denying the bang-bang-bang effect on display here, even if it may just be coincidental.
Last w... |
| 21.10.2024 | Federal Court Says Three Hits From Flock ALPR Cameras Isn’t Enough For A ‘Carpenter’ Violation | The Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision created a warrant requirement for obtaining location data from service providers. It was a limited ruling, albeit one that has had far-ranging implications.
Thanks to this ruling, law enforcement agenc... |
| 10.10.2024 | Court Reminds Cops That Smelling Decriminalized Weed Ain’t The Probable Cause It Used To Be | If there’s anything that’s going to severely reduce the number of pretextual stops performed by cops, it probably won’t be the handful of traffic stop reform efforts being made by legislators. It’s going to be the continued legalization (or... |
| 03.10.2024 | Appeals Court Reminds Law Enforcement That ‘No-Fly’ Doesn’t Mean ‘No Drive’ | The “no-fly” list has many problems. Pretty much any fed can “nominate” someone for the list. Pretty much everyone on the list has almost zero chance of getting off it other than by filing a lawsuit. And even though the government has been ... |
| 15.07.2024 | Court Reverses Conviction After Cops Lied To Suspect About Having A Warrant To Search His Phone | It’s well-known that cops can lie to suspects to obtain confessions or further information from suspects. But not always. This Delaware case, brought to us by FourthAmendment.com, demonstrates that while lying in interrogation rooms is usua... |
| 24.06.2024 | Court: No Immunity For ‘So Anyway, I Started Blasting’ Cop Who Killed Someone For The Crime Of Being At Home | I’m going to quote at length from this decision because the things said by the officer who killed one person and wounded two others said so many amazing (in the pejorative sense) things while explaining and defending his actions. (h/t Fourt... |
| 03.06.2024 | State Court Says There’s A Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy In Conversations With Non-Cops In Interrogation Rooms | Kind of an odd bit of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence here, given all the factors. (h/t FourthAmendment.com)
Obviously, some conversations have an expectation of privacy, even when they’re held in police interrogation rooms. Those would be o... |
| 30.05.2024 | DC Court Smacks Feds For Going Judge Shopping After Their Warrant Request Was Denied | Well… this is a fun one. The FBI requested a warrant, got it shot down, and thought it would just try to bypass the proper judicial process by pitching the same warrant to another judge all the way across the country. (h/t FourthAmendment.c... |
| 22.05.2024 | Court To Cops: Sucking At Your Job And Slow-Walking A Stop Means You Lose All Your Evidence | Pretextual stops. Let’s talk about it.
Cops who perform traffic stops are rarely performing traffic stops because they care about traffic safety. They’re looking for something — anything — else. Driving a car on public roads puts you on the... |
| 17.05.2024 | Court To Cops: If We Can’t See The Drug Dog Do The Thing, We’re Gonna Be Suppressing Some Evidence | Every cop with a dog swears it can detect all sorts of contraband. Literally swears. In court. On the stand.
But are drug dogs miraculous wonders of law enforcement due to their training? Or is it due to the domesticated dog’s innate desire... |
| 16.05.2024 | Michigan Supreme Court Says Fourth Amendment Doesn’t Apply To Government Drone Use In Civil Cases | Bit of a weird one here.
So, there’s the assumption made by all cops and most courts that any area visible to passersby does not have an expectation of privacy. That means front yards, open garages, etc. Courts and cops have mostly agreed t... |
| 08.04.2024 | Court Calls Out BS ‘Driving While Black’ Traffic Stops While Tossing Felony Possession Conviction | While it’s not ultimately a factor in the court’s decision, it’s nice to see a court call out biased policing while discussing the merits of the case. This decision [PDF], handed down by an Illinois state appellate court, makes it pretty cl... |
| 25.03.2024 | 10th Circuit Appeals Court Says 68 Days Of Pole Camera Surveillance Doesn’t Violate 4th Amendment | Well, that’s the way it goes. Courts have been extremely reluctant to disrupt the long-term surveillance plans of law enforcement. If investigators can mount a camera on public property and keep it focused on areas visible by members of the... |
| 19.03.2024 | Court To Cops: There’s No ‘Instinct Exception’ For Drug Dogs Handlers Refuse To Handle | Officers who handle drug dogs like to claim they’re so highly skilled at animal handling they can recognize otherwise imperceptible moves by their animals as the dog “alerting,” giving them (and, more literally) their animals free rein to p... |
| 28.02.2024 | Court: Turning A Minor Parking Violation Into A String Of Rights Violations Is A Great Way To Lose Your Evidence | No matter how minor the infraction, it still deserves the court’s full attention. That’s the ultimate lesson of this New York court decision, brought to us by FourthAmendment.com. It starts with an alleged window tint violation (always a fa... |
| 23.01.2024 | Judge Reminds Deputies They Can’t Arrest Someone Just Because They Don’t Like What Is Being Said | It shouldn’t need to be said, but it bears repeating: the First Amendment definitely protects speech the listener doesn’t like.
This holds true even if the one doing the speaking is personally and professionally unlikable. There’s some back... |
| 30.11.2023 | California Court: Passwords Are Communications, Protected By The Stored Communications Act | The Stored Communications Act — enacted in 1986 — is not only outdated, it’s also pretty weird. An amendment to the ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act), the SCA added and subtracted privacy from communications. |
| 29.11.2023 | Court To Officers: You Can’t Charge Someone With Resisting Arrest When You Broke The Law With A Warrantless Entry | There are few things I enjoy more than watching cocksure cops trip over their own hubris. |
| 17.11.2023 | WV Supreme Court: Omnipresent Concern Like ‘Officer Safety’ Can’t Be Used To Excuse Constitutional Violations | The things said by law enforcement when trying to keep evidence from being tossed all sound the same. There are only a handful of acceptable excuses for performing warrantless searches and, man, do they get used so frequently we can probabl... |
| 03.11.2023 | Court: You Can’t Add A Lie To An Already-Executed Warrant And Expect Everything To Be Constitutional | This is not a fun case. It’s instructional, but it involves some pretty noxious criminal behavior. And that’s how these things work, usually. People who aren’t facing criminal charges rarely need to challenge warrants. They never need to ch... |
| 02.11.2023 | Court Rejects Extremely Broad Google Search Warrant, Citing Both Carpenter And Riley | A burglary case that included evidence found at the scene (broken glass, a canister of pepper spray) and an apparent eyewitness has fallen apart because the government decided going right to Google meant it could ignore Supreme Court preced... |
| 31.10.2023 | Court Tells Cops That A Driver Not Laughing At An Officer’s Terrible Joke Is Not Reasonable Suspicion | The list of things law enforcement officers consider reasonably suspicious could fill a decent-sized book. Pretty much anything anyone does or says when being accosted by an officer is usually deemed to be indicative of illegal activity. |
| 16.10.2023 | The Casual Cruelty Of Cops: Inventory Search Edition | This case contains multitudes. |
| 03.10.2023 | Court Tells Cop They Need More Than ‘It’s A Vehicle’ And ‘Guy Looked Nervous’ To Engage In Warrantless Searches | Adding to the case law of small, but significant, Fourth Amendment law is this decision [PDF] handed down by a Maine federal court. (h/t FourthAmendment.com) |
| 19.09.2023 | Cops Lose CSAM Evidence Because They Couldn’t Be Bothered To Include Probable Cause In Their Warrant Application | As has been noted here before, it’s often the worst people that generate the best case law. People staring down the barrel of several years in prison are extremely motivated to find any reason to have the evidence against them dismissed. Pe... |
| 29.08.2023 | California Supreme Court Decides There’s No Reason To Generate Precedent On Geofence Warrants | The government’s preference for geofence (a.k.a. “reverse”) is well known. There have been enough cases and enough litigation in recent years to demonstrably show the government will go to data havens when searching for suspects rather than... |
| 25.08.2023 | Fifth Circuit Says Law Enforcement Doesn’t Need Warrants To Search Phones At The Border | In 2014, the Supreme Court made it clear: phone searches require warrants. While it did note the case involved a search “incident to an arrest,” the precedent was undeniable. If a phone search attached to an arrest requires a warrant, it wo... |
| 23.08.2023 | Ohio Court Tells Cops They Need To Know The Law If They’re Going To Engage In Pretextual Stops | Pretextual stops are law enforcement’s favorite way to fish for larger catches. Any minor moving violation can predicate a stop. That leads to conversations — often non-consensual — with drivers and passengers. Any number of factors can be ... |
| 17.07.2023 | Top Court In Illinois Says Compelling Password Production Isn’t A Fifth Amendment Violation | Well, this is an unfortunate turn of events. The last time we discussed this issue in this state (March 2019), a state appeals court came to the opposite conclusion: compelling password production is a violation of rights. |
| 17.07.2023 | New Jersey Supreme Court: If Cops Are Going To Digitally Wiretap A Facebook Account, They Need A Wiretap Order | Gathering evidence has never been easier than it is now. So much is created so easily and so often. And there are so many access points for law enforcement. |
| 12.06.2023 | State Court Tells Cops Getting A Warrant Two Years After An Illegal Phone Search Doesn’t Suddenly Make The Search Legal | The Supreme Court’s Riley decision has been the law of the land since 2014. If cops want to search seized cell phones, they need a warrant. Nearly a decade on, cops are still violating it. The inability to follow the rules has seen evidence... |
| 09.06.2023 | Court Tosses Phone Evidence After First Warrant Was Too Vague And Second Warrant Was Too Late | For searches to be compliant with the Constitution, their underlying warrants need to be just as compliant. Warrants have been required for cell phone searches since 2014, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Riley decision. |
| 15.05.2023 | Colorado’s Top Court Seems Reluctant To Give Judicial Blessing To ‘Reverse’ Keyword Search Warrants | Having figured out the internet is a great place to find things, cops are increasingly relying on warrants that target tech companies in hopes of finding suspects, rather than finding suspects first and working forward from there. |
| 20.03.2023 | Vermont’s Supreme Court: Obtaining Real Time Cell Site Location Data Requires A Warrant | In 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States overrode the Third Party Doctrine to declare cell site location info (CSLI) off-limits without a warrant. Recognizing the fact that ubiquitous cell phone use was generating reams of data daily... |
| 13.03.2023 | Court: Riley’s ‘Get A Warrant’ Cell Phone Search Requirement Means Get A *Good* Warrant | In 2015, the Supreme Court finally addressed reality: people were carrying around computers in their pockets capable of accessing, storing, and maintaining far more information than could be expected to be found in their physical houses. |
| 10.02.2023 | Texas SWAT Team Destroys Home While Searching For The Wrong Person At The Wrong Address | To be sure, SWAT operations are pulled off flawlessly around the nation every day. The right addresses are hit. The right windows are smashed. The right doors are destroyed. The correct perps are arrested. The proper people are filled with ... |
| 03.01.2023 | Successful Evidence Suppression Motion Shows Cops Think Pretty Much Everything Is ‘Suspicious’ | Law enforcement officers really enjoy performing warrantless searches. To get to that point, however, they need to be in certain places (airports, roadsides) and have one certain thing: “reasonable suspicion.” But what seems “reasonable” to... |
| 03.11.2022 | Court Reminds Cops That Pointing A Bunch Of Guns At Someone Doesn’t Make A Search Consensual | Perhaps the last people who should be asked to define “consent” would be cops. They exist in an alternate reality where only those cuffed and/or beaten to a pulp can plausibly raise a claim that their questioning or search was non-consensua... |
| 02.11.2022 | Report Shows Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Wastes Most Of Its Time Hassling Minorities | The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has long since abandoned any pretense of serving the public. In fact, it may never have pretended to respect this ideal at any point in its history. It has been a rogue agency for years, openly hostile t... |
| 31.10.2022 | Iowa Appeals Court Affirms State Cops Can’t Use Their Ignorance Of The Law To Justify Traffic Stops | In December 2014, the US Supreme Court extended its blessing of pretextual stops to cover imaginary moving violations. Ignorance of the law is the best excuse, cops were told in the Court’s Heien decision. All cops needed to do was make a “... |
| 21.10.2022 | Mississippi Courts Are Helping Cops Keep Search Warrants Out Of The Public’s Hands | No-knock warrants remain under fire as they continue to needlessly increase the death toll of residents who often have no idea who’s violently entering their home and, therefore, respond in unpredictable ways. Supposedly obtained to increas... |
| 23.09.2022 | Federal Court Says Warrantless Seizure Of Vehicles Over Unpaid Fees Violates The Constitution | A federal court delivers another blow to tireless enforcers of parking violations, ensuring we will soon be at the mercy of parking scofflaws everywhere. |
| 08.09.2022 | Court: Yeah, No One’s Going To Feel They’re Free To Go When Cops Are Firing Bullets Through Their Front Door | Consent can mean a lot of things when you’re accosted by cops. Law enforcement officers tend to feel it’s always voluntary, even when you’re sitting in an interrogation room for what the “good cop” refers to as a “friendly chat” meant to “c... |
| 28.07.2022 | Colorado Appeals Court Again Reminds Cops That Marijuana Legalization Means Their Drug Dogs Are Mostly Useless | Colorado legalized recreational marijuana use in 2012. That’s an entire decade ago. Who knew the learning curve for cops would be so extreme? |
| 22.07.2022 | Court Suppresses Phone Search, Telling Cops A Warrant With No Probable Cause Is Like Having No Warrant At All | Not every crime is linked to a cell phone, no matter what cops may think. True, cell phones are omnibuses of information, containing overflowing email inboxes, social media posts, personal contacts, photographs, text messages, vast amounts ... |
| 01.07.2022 | Kentucky Supreme Court Says Warrants Are Needed For Real-Time Cell Location Pings | In 2018, the Supreme Court declared warrantless access to historical cell site location information unconstitutional, given the privacy implications of being able to track someone’s movements over days or weeks without bothering to secure a... |
| 04.05.2022 | Surprising Absolutely No One, Kansas Law Enforcement Can’t Accurately Track Forfeitures | Cops love laws when they’re using them against people, no matter how esoteric or misunderstood (by cops) the laws are. When laws are applied to them, they’re far less concerned about being law-abiding. |
| 27.04.2022 | NJ Appeals Court: Lower Court Mixed Up 4th And 5th Amendment And Either Way, Phone Passcodes Can Be Compelled | More case law on compelled passcode production and the Fifth Amendment has been generated by a New Jersey appeals court. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do anything to strengthen Fifth Amendment protections against compelled production. |
| 05.04.2022 | Law Prof Suggests Geofence Warrants Are A Net Gain For The Public, Even If They Invert The Probable Cause Standard | On March 9th, we covered a Virginia court’s decision to reject a geofence/”reverse” warrant as unconstitutional. This was brought to our attention by FourthAmendment.com. Roughly a month later, it’s suddenly news. |
| 04.04.2022 | Top Court In Massachusetts Says Cops Unconstitutionally Obtained Cell Tower Dumps In Homicide Case | The courts in Massachusetts continue to set the standard for privacy protections. They have handed down several rulings that have expanded residents’ reasonable expectations beyond the baseline set by the Fourth Amendment and federal court ... |
| 01.04.2022 | DC Federal Court Says Lying Amtrak Officer Can’t Have His Inconsistent Statements And His Evidence Too | Cops lie. It’s a fact. It’s called testilying and it happens so often hardly anyone can even be bothered to act surprised when these lies are exposed. |
| 09.03.2022 | Virginia Court Blocks Geofence Warrant As Unconstitutionally Vague | There are multiple places government agencies can go to acquire location data. The Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision put a damper on warrantless demands, but the private sector has rushed to fill this hole in the law enforcement market by ... |
| 18.01.2022 | Pennsylvania Says Legal Medical Marijuana Means Cops Can't Just Sniff Their Way Into Warrantless Searches | The legalization of marijuana is changing the probable cause equation all over the nation. What used to be an easy bust and/or a great way to engage in warrantless searches is no longer guaranteed. Probable cause on four legs -- police drug... |
| 18.01.2022 | Pennsylvania Says Legal Medical Marijuana Means Cops Can't Just Sniff Their Way Into Warrantless Searches | The legalization of marijuana is changing the probable cause equation all over the nation. What used to be an easy bust and/or a great way to engage in warrantless searches is no longer guaranteed. Probable cause on four legs — police drug ... |
| 07.01.2022 | Maryland Court Says Baltimore Prosecutors Can't Hide Their 'Do Not Call' List Of Bad Cops From The Public | Changes in law, court decisions, and transparency efforts have resulted in the public release of names of officers prosecutors consider too unreliable to ask to testify in court. Officers with histories of misconduct or perjury are placed o... |
| 07.01.2022 | Maryland Court Says Baltimore Prosecutors Can't Hide Their 'Do Not Call' List Of Bad Cops From The Public | Changes in law, court decisions, and transparency efforts have resulted in the public release of names of officers prosecutors consider too unreliable to ask to testify in court. Officers with histories of misconduct or perjury are placed o... |
| 04.01.2022 | Eighth Circuit (Again) Says There's Nothing Wrong With Detaining Innocent Minors At Gunpoint | What's unreasonable for law enforcement to do when searching for a criminal suspect? Not much, apparently. The Eighth Circuit Appeals Court has handed down a ruling that says detaining minors at gunpoint is just good policework when they're... |
| 04.01.2022 | Eighth Circuit (Again) Says There's Nothing Wrong With Detaining Innocent Minors At Gunpoint | What’s unreasonable for law enforcement to do when searching for a criminal suspect? Not much, apparently. The Eighth Circuit Appeals Court has handed down a ruling that says detaining minors at gunpoint is just good policework when they’re... |
| 23.12.2021 | Another Illinois Appeals Court Handles Compelled Password Production, Says There's No Fifth Amendment Issue Here | The Fifth Amendment implications of compelled password production has reverted from “somewhat settled” to “not settled at all” in the state of Illinois. |
| 23.12.2021 | Another Illinois Appeals Court Handles Compelled Password Production, Says There's No Fifth Amendment Issue Here | The Fifth Amendment implications of compelled password production has reverted from "somewhat settled" to "not settled at all" in the state of Illinois. |
| 02.12.2021 | Colorado Appeals Court Says A Drug Dog That Alerts On Now-Legal Weed Can't Create Probable Cause For A Search | “Probable cause on four legs.” That’s the cop nickname for drug dogs, which need to do nothing more than something only perceptible to the officer/trainer to allow officers to engage in warrantless searches. For years, drug dogs and the “od... |
| 02.12.2021 | Colorado Appeals Court Says A Drug Dog That Alerts On Now-Legal Weed Can't Create Probable Cause For A Search | "Probable cause on four legs." That's the cop nickname for drug dogs, which need to do nothing more than something only perceptible to the officer/trainer to allow officers to engage in warrantless searches. For years, drug dogs a... |
| 09.11.2021 | Students Have Rights: Court Dumps Evidence After Cops Rely On A Month-Old Anonymous Tip To Search A Minor | As courts seemingly have to remind school administrators (and their partners in unconstitutional crime, school police officers), students -- even minors -- still have constitutional rights. The First and Fourth Amendments are the most frequ... |
| 09.11.2021 | Students Have Rights: Court Dumps Evidence After Cops Rely On A Month-Old Anonymous Tip To Search A Minor | As courts seemingly have to remind school administrators (and their partners in unconstitutional crime, school police officers), students — even minors — still have constitutional rights. The First and Fourth Amendments are the most frequen... |
| 22.10.2021 | A Drug Dog's Nose Poking Through The Open Window Of A Car Is Unconstitutional, Says Idaho's Top Court | How much of a violation needs to take place before it's a Constitutional violation? It's a trick question, at least in the hands of the right judge. With the wrong judge, a minimal violation is considered excusable, or at least salvageable ... |
| 22.10.2021 | A Drug Dog's Nose Poking Through The Open Window Of A Car Is Unconstitutional, Says Idaho's Top Court | How much of a violation needs to take place before it’s a Constitutional violation? It’s a trick question, at least in the hands of the right judge. With the wrong judge, a minimal violation is considered excusable, or at least salvageable ... |
| 14.10.2021 | Court Says Google Translate Isn't Reliable Enough To Determine Consent For A Search | The quickest way to a warrantless search is obtaining consent. But consent obtained by officers isn’t always consent, no matter how it’s portrayed in police reports and court testimony. Courts have sometimes pointed this out, stripping away... |
| 14.10.2021 | Court Says Google Translate Isn't Reliable Enough To Determine Consent For A Search | The quickest way to a warrantless search is obtaining consent. But consent obtained by officers isn't always consent, no matter how it's portrayed in police reports and court testimony. Courts have sometimes pointed this out, stripping away... |
| 08.10.2021 | Connecticut Supreme Court Says Cops Need Warrants To Run Drug Dogs Around Motel Room Doors | Drug dogs are man’s best friend, if that man happens to be The Man. “Probable cause on four legs” is the unofficial nickname of these clever non-pets, which give signals only their handlers can detect which give cops permission to perform s... |
| 08.10.2021 | Connecticut Supreme Court Says Cops Need Warrants To Run Drug Dogs Around Motel Room Doors | Drug dogs are man's best friend, if that man happens to be The Man. "Probable cause on four legs" is the unofficial nickname of these clever non-pets, which give signals only their handlers can detect which give cops permission to... |
| 25.08.2021 | North Dakota Supreme Court: An Officer's Camera Is More Trustworthy Than His BS Testimony | While body-worn cameras have mainly proven to be a boon for prosecutors, rather than the all-purpose accountability tools many of us thought they would be [raises hand sheepishly], the mere existence of more recordings is still a net gain f... |
| 12.08.2021 | Judge Orders FBI To Return $57,000 Seized From A US Private Vaults' Customer Since It Apparently Can't Justify Keeping It | The judge, who blocked the FBI from moving forward with forfeiting property from certain US Private Vaults’ customers who haven’t been accused of crimes, is now ordering the FBI to return money to one of the people contesting the seizures.... |
| 12.08.2021 | Judge Orders FBI To Return $57,000 Seized From A US Private Vaults' Customer Since It Apparently Can't Justify Keeping It | The judge, who blocked the FBI from moving forward with forfeiting property from certain US Private Vaults' customers who haven't been accused of crimes, is now ordering the FBI to return money to one of the people contesting the seizures. |
| 21.07.2021 | Court Calls Bullshit On Cop Who Claimed He Could Smell Weed In Sealed Bags In A Moving Car From His Own Moving Cruiser | It doesn’t happen nearly often enough, but it’s always enjoyable to watch a court lay the smackdown on a law enforcement officer’s literally unbelievable assertions. And this case [PDF] — via FourthAmendment.com — contains a claim from a su... |
| 21.07.2021 | Court Calls Bullshit On Cop Who Claimed He Could Smell Weed In Sealed Bags In A Moving Car From His Own Moving Cruiser | It doesn't happen nearly often enough, but it's always enjoyable to watch a court lay the smackdown on a law enforcement officer's literally unbelievable assertions. And this case [PDF] -- via FourthAmendment.com -- contains a claim from a ... |
| 20.07.2021 | Court To Cop: You Need More Than 'Odor Of Marijuana' And Inconsistent Testimony To Justify A Warrantless Search | When cops are looking to perform warrantless searches, the only thing more useful than drug dogs is officers' own noses. The invocation of the phrase "smell of marijuana" magically dissipates the protective shield of the Fourth Am... |
| 20.07.2021 | Court To Cop: You Need More Than 'Odor Of Marijuana' And Inconsistent Testimony To Justify A Warrantless Search | When cops are looking to perform warrantless searches, the only thing more useful than drug dogs is officers’ own noses. The invocation of the phrase “smell of marijuana” magically dissipates the protective shield of the Fourth Amendment, a... |
| 23.06.2021 | Kansas Court Rejects Government's 'Reverse Warrant,' Sets Ground Rules For Future Requests | We haven’t seen a lot of legal challenges to so-called “reverse warrants.” This is likely due to their relative novelty. It’s probably also due to the fact that no one “targeted” by these warrants knows about them until well after an invest... |
| 23.06.2021 | Kansas Court Rejects Government's 'Reverse Warrant,' Sets Ground Rules For Future Requests | We haven't seen a lot of legal challenges to so-called "reverse warrants." This is likely due to their relative novelty. It's probably also due to the fact that no one "targeted" by these warrants knows about them until ... |
| 10.06.2021 | State Court Confirms The Obvious: There's No Expectation Of Privacy In Text Messages Sent To Other People | A Massachusetts court recently sent out the useful reminder that a person's reasonable expectation of privacy does not extend to other people. In other words, there's an expectation of privacy in sent communications, but only up to the poin... |
| 10.06.2021 | State Court Confirms The Obvious: There's No Expectation Of Privacy In Text Messages Sent To Other People | A Massachusetts court recently sent out the useful reminder that a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy does not extend to other people. In other words, there’s an expectation of privacy in sent communications, but only up to the poin... |
| 17.05.2021 | Chicago PD Oversight Says Officers Racked Up 100 Misconduct Allegations During A Single Wrong Address Raid | More than two years after Chicago police officers terrorized a naked 50-year-old social worker during the raid of a wrong address, the PD’s independent oversight — the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) — has issued its report.... |
| 17.05.2021 | Chicago PD Oversight Says Officers Racked Up 100 Misconduct Allegations During A Single Wrong Address Raid | More than two years after Chicago police officers terrorized a naked 50-year-old social worker during the raid of a wrong address, the PD's independent oversight -- the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) -- has issued its repor... |
| 13.05.2021 | Court To Cops: Waiting Sixteen Months To Search A Seized Phone Violates The Fourth Amendment | A recent case handled by an Illinois Appeals Court has some interesting things to say about cellphones and searches. It also contains some rather interesting assertions by law enforcement, which apparently didn't feel all that compelled to ... |
| 13.05.2021 | Court To Cops: Waiting Sixteen Months To Search A Seized Phone Violates The Fourth Amendment | A recent case handled by an Illinois Appeals Court has some interesting things to say about cellphones and searches. It also contains some rather interesting assertions by law enforcement, which apparently didn’t feel all that compelled to ... |
| 30.03.2021 | State Appeals Court Says Flying A Drone Over Someone's Property Violates The Fourth Amendment | Lots of plain view jurisprudence relies on the fact that if it can be observed by random people — not just by law enforcement — then there’s no Fourth Amendment issue. If airplanes can pass over someone’s land, surely police helicopters can... |
| 30.03.2021 | State Appeals Court Says Flying A Drone Over Someone's Property Violates The Fourth Amendment | Lots of plain view jurisprudence relies on the fact that if it can be observed by random people -- not just by law enforcement -- then there's no Fourth Amendment issue. If airplanes can pass over someone's land, surely police helicopters c... |
| 18.03.2021 | Forfeiture In Theory: TAKING DOWN DRUG LORDS! Forfeiture In Practice: Taking A Guy's TV And PlayStation During A Drug Raid | Asset forfeiture means taking everything that isn't nailed down. Why bother being selective? In most cases, it's pure profit for the law enforcement agency that performs the seizure. And since forfeitures are so rarely successfully challeng... |
| 18.03.2021 | Forfeiture In Theory: TAKING DOWN DRUG LORDS! Forfeiture In Practice: Taking A Guy's TV And PlayStation During A Drug Raid | Asset forfeiture means taking everything that isn’t nailed down. Why bother being selective? In most cases, it’s pure profit for the law enforcement agency that performs the seizure. And since forfeitures are so rarely successfully challeng... |
| 01.03.2021 | Oregon Court: A Stop So Pretexual Cops Forgot About The Pretext Is A Rights Violation | Pretextual stops are legal. The courts have said repeatedly that it’s ok for cops to stop people for one thing to facilitate mini-investigations about other things. As long as the pretext holds up — and reasonable suspicion about other thin... |
| 01.03.2021 | Oregon Court: A Stop So Pretexual Cops Forgot About The Pretext Is A Rights Violation | Pretextual stops are legal. The courts have said repeatedly that it's ok for cops to stop people for one thing to facilitate mini-investigations about other things. As long as the pretext holds up -- and reasonable suspicion about other thi... |