holding that government's right to search all persons and their belongings who cross its borders is plenary and is "reasonable" per se within the Fourth Amendment
How later courts described this case
- holding that government's right to search all persons and their belongings who cross its borders is plenary and is "reasonable" per se within the Fourth Amendment
- explaining that the border search is “a longstanding, historically recognized exception to the Fourth Amendment’s general principle that a warrant be obtained, and in this respect is like the similar ‘search incident to lawful arrest’ exception”
- explaining that “searches made at the border, pur- suant to the long-standing right of the sovereign to protect it- self . . . , are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border”
- finding bulkiness and weight of package, along with fact that it came from Thailand and it "felt like there was something in there,” sufficient to establish "reasonable cause to suspect”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Mr. Justice Powell,
concurring.
The statute at issue expressly authorizes customs officials to “search any . . . envelope” at the border where there is “reasonable cause to suspect” the importation of contraband. 19 U. S. C. § 482 . In view of the necessarily enhanced power of the Federal Government to enforce customs laws at the border, I have no doubt that this statute — requiring as a precondition to the opening of mail “reasonable cause to suspect” a violation of law — adequately protects both First and Fourth Amendment rights. *
I therefore join in the judgment of the Court. On the understanding that the precedential effect of today’s decision does not go beyond the validity of mail searches at the border pursuant to the statute, I also join the opinion of the Court.
As the Court notes, ante, at 623, postal regulations flatly prohibit the reading of “any correspondence contained in sealed letter mail of foreign origin unless a search warrant has been obtained . . . 19 CFR § 145.3 (1976).