Originally Posted by
InkUnderNails
And what is the constitutional justification or exception for an administrative search of ones physical person?
I know the courts have found that an administrative search is acceptable. They did that back in 1967 and it applied to searches of buildings for code violations and such. I also know that after 9/11 the TSA got permission for increased administrative searches of stuff going on the aircraft. But, I could not find a court decision or legislative action that extended the administrative search to ones body.
I readily admit I am not a legal expert, but I try to research these matters. Please inform me.
U.S. v. Hartwell is a case involving the search of a person by TSA, upheld as an administrative search.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1828192393761182480&q=airport+se arches+tsa&hl=en&as_sdt=20000000002&as_ylo=2003#[13]
The person set off the WTMD, was wanded, and the wanding indicated suspicious items in his pockets, which turned out to be drugs. While the court found this was an acceptable administrative search, it noted:
Third, the procedures involved in Hartwell's search were minimally intrusive.[10] They were well-tailored to protect personal privacy, escalating in invasiveness only after a lower level of screening disclosed a reason to conduct a more probing search. The search began when Hartwell simply passed through a magnetometer and had his bag x-rayed, two screenings that involved no physical touching. See United States v. Slocum, 464 F.2d 1180, 1182 (3d Cir.1972) (an airport magnetometer screen "per se is justified"). Only after Hartwell set off the metal detector was he screened with a wand—yet another less intrusive substitute for a physical pat-down. And only after the wand detected something solid on his person, and after repeated requests that he produce the item, did the TSA agents (according to Hartwell) reach into his pocket.
This is a Circuit Court decision, but it was written by then-judge Alito before he was on the Supreme Court.