Bond v. United States
Headline: Court blocks routine squeezing of bus passengers’ soft carry-on luggage at checkpoints, ruling tactile manipulation violates the Fourth Amendment and protecting travelers’ privacy.
Holding: The Court held that a Border Patrol agent’s probing squeeze of a soft carry-on bag in an overhead bin violated the Fourth Amendment because passengers may expect handling but not exploratory, tactile searches without consent or probable cause.
- Stops officers from routinely squeezing soft carry-on bags without consent or legal basis.
- Protects bus and other travelers’ expectation of privacy in carry-on luggage.
- May lead courts to exclude evidence found by exploratory tactile searches.
Summary
Background
A bus passenger placed a soft, opaque carry-on bag in the overhead compartment on a Greyhound that stopped at a permanent Border Patrol checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas. A Border Patrol agent boarded, checked passengers’ immigration status, and then squeezed bags in the overhead bins. The agent squeezed a green canvas bag above the passenger’s seat, felt a brick-like object, and after the passenger identified the bag and allowed it to be opened, officers found a brick of methamphetamine. The passenger was convicted, the Court of Appeals upheld the search as not a Fourth Amendment violation, and the Supreme Court agreed to review and now reversed.
Reasoning
The Court asked whether a person who places a bag in a shared overhead bin keeps a privacy interest society will recognize. The Court said luggage is a protected “effect,” and the passenger showed a privacy interest by using an opaque bag and keeping it near his seat. The opinion distinguished visual observation from tactile probing and explained that a probing, exploratory squeeze is more intrusive than ordinary handling. Travelers may expect others to move bags, but not to feel them in an exploratory way. Because the agent’s tactile manipulation exceeded the ordinary handling a passenger could reasonably expect, the Court held the squeezing violated the Fourth Amendment.
Real world impact
The decision protects bus and other travelers from routine, exploratory squeezing of soft carry-on bags by officers without consent or other legal justification. Law enforcement at checkpoints cannot rely on public exposure alone to justify probing a bag’s contents; evidence obtained by such tactile probing may be excluded. The Court emphasized the objective effect of the officer’s actions, not the officer’s subjective intent.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Breyer, joined by Justice Scalia, dissented, arguing that hard squeezes are a foreseeable part of shared overhead use and that the record showed officers routinely squeeze bags; the dissent warned the ruling could hinder drug investigations and create a complicated line-drawing problem.
Opinions in this case:
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