Reasonable Suspicion not Required for Laptop Search at Int'l Airport

Generally, border search agents are given wide lattitude to conduct searches relative the reasonableness of suspicion¹ and, which provides an exception to the warrant requirement.² 

Some time ago, I posted a story concerning a border exception to the warrant requirement, where a border agent inspected a laptop and discovered contraband (click here).  From the Ninth Circuit, U.S. v. Arnold, we have a similar underlying fact situation, except that the question before the court concerns the reasonableness of the intrusion:  In its April 21st opinion, the Court held that reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the border.  The Court found unavailing defandant's numerous arguments --some bearing stretch marks-- such as that “laptop computers are fundamentally different from traditional closed containers,” and analogizes them to “homes” ² and the “human mind.”³  Consequently, the Court reversed the trial court's suppression order, thereby permitting prosecution to proceed.

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¹ See, generally, United States v. Montoya de Hernandez, 473 U.S. 531 (1985).

² Under the border search exception, the government may conduct routine searches of persons entering the United States without probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or a warrant.  For Fourth Amendment purposes, an international airport terminal is the "functional equivalent" of a border.

³  Defendant’s analogy of a laptop to a home was based on a conclusion that a laptop’s capacity allows for the storage of personal documents in an amount equivalent to that stored in one’s home.

⁴  Defendant urged that a laptop is like the “human mind” because of its ability to record ideas, e-mail, internet chats and web-surfing habits.