The Washington Times
U.S. border inspectors can disassemble and search a vehicle's gas tank for drugs or other contraband that might be hidden without violating the owner's constitutional privacy rights, the Supreme Court said yesterday.
The unanimous decision, based on the high court's ruling that the government has a "paramount interest" in protecting its borders, was described as a victory for the Justice Department, which had argued in support of the searches as a way to capture drug smugglers and would-be terrorists.
The court said border inspectors could conduct random searches even if they did not have specific information a gas tank contained contraband, because the United States, as sovereign, had the "inherent authority to protect, and a paramount interest in protecting, its territorial integrity."
"The government's interest in preventing the entry of unwanted persons and effects is at its zenith at the international border," wrote Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. "Time and again, we have stated that searches made at the border, pursuant to the longstanding right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact they occur at the border."