Pubdate: Wed, 31 Mar 2004
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page: A6
Copyright: 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Authors: Mark H. Anderson, And Robert Block

HIGH COURT BACKS CUSTOMS POWER TO CONDUCT SEARCHES AT BORDERS

WASHINGTON -- In a ruling the Bush administration views as vital to its war 
against terrorism, the Supreme Court bolstered the powers of U.S. Customs 
officials to conduct searches, allowing border agents to conduct extensive 
searches of vehicles at border crossings without reasonable suspicion of 
criminal activity.

A unanimous court ruled that the Constitution's protection against 
unreasonable searches and seizures doesn't apply fully when it comes to the 
U.S. policing its borders. "The government's interest in preventing the 
entry of unwanted persons and effects is at its zenith at the international 
border," Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the court.

The opinion overturns a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 
San Francisco, in the case against Manuel Flores-Montano, who was caught 
with 81 pounds of marijuana in his gas tank while trying to cross the 
border near San Diego. Customs agents discovered the marijuana after 
disassembling the gas tank of his 1987 Ford Taurus wagon.

Mr. Flores-Montano argued that the search was illegal, and the appeals 
court agreed, saying law-enforcement officers must have a reasonable 
suspicion of criminal activity before conducting such a search. But the 
high court ruled that customs officials' authority "includes the authority 
to remove, disassemble and reassemble a vehicle's fuel tank."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner hailed the 
decision. "It couldn't have come at a more significant time," he said. "It 
is especially important given that our priority mission now is to search 
for terrorists and terrorist weapons."

Although several justices had expressed interest in Customs' new 
antiterrorism mandate when the case was argued before the court, the 
government didn't make the war on terrorism a central argument. The U.S. 
Customs Service, now the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and 
Border Protection agency, historically has had the broadest powers of 
search and seizure of any law enforcement agency in the country.

Mr. Bonner said in an interview that the appeals court ruling, if allowed 
to stand, would have been a significant setback to efforts to protect the 
country from terrorists. "In this post-9/11 environment there needs to be 
the authority to conduct searches without warrant or reason on our 
borders," he said.

The court, however, suggested there is a limit to how far those searches 
can go. In a footnote, Justice Rehnquist wrote that some vehicle searches 
- -- he suggests drilling a hole in a gas tank -- might be too damaging to 
pass constitutional muster. He also wrote that a search of Mr. 
Flores-Montano's body might be held to a different standard.

Still, legal experts said the decision strengthens police powers in border 
enforcement. "If it's border searches of property, it's carte blanche," 
said David L. Hudson Jr., a Nashville, Tenn., attorney who has studied the 
case. "This decision is not terribly surprising, given the whole border 
control issue and the war on terror."

(U.S. v. Flores-Montano)

In another unanimous ruling, the justices said the family of the late 
Vincent Foster Jr., a top aide to President Clinton, can block the public 
release of Mr. Foster's autopsy photos. The opinion ends a bid by Los 
Angeles lawyer Allan Favish to gain access to photographs; Mr. Foster 
committed suicide in 1993 in a public park outside Washington. It also 
gives immediate family members -- and not just the individuals involved -- 
the power to block federal Freedom of Information Act requests on privacy 
grounds.

"Our holding ensures that the privacy interests of surviving family members 
would allow the government to deny these gruesome requests in appropriate 
cases," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the court's decision. Mr. Foster 
committed suicide while working as a top aide for former President Clinton. 
The National Park Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Congress 
and the federal Office of Independent Counsel all conducted investigations 
into the death of Mr. Foster, concluding his death was a suicide.

(National Archives and Records Administration v. Favish)
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