Hopefully some of you good folks can point me in the right direction, for information on a visitor's rights when going through courthouse security.

I travel a fair amount to do historic research--by train or car, to avoid TSA--but I still run into courthouse security regularly, and am trying to read up on my rights as a visitor, but my Googling has only turned up pro-security articles by courthouse staff, or kettle-type news articles lauding increased safety.

I dislike the bullying attitude of most security guards, but don't know how to react to it.

For example, at Richmond recently, I was cleared through security, but my wife was stopped because she had a bottle of Coke (not coke, LOL!) in her purse. So while I was waiting in the sterile area for her to go outside and "dispose" of it, i.e. drink it, one of the guards turned around, looked at me and asked if I had anything in the pocket of my cargo pants. He had already cleared me.

What were my legal rights? I have no clue, and would like to find a website that explains them.

My pocket was empty and I showed him by pressing it flat with my hand. But did he have a legal right to re-challenge me after he passed me, just because I happened to be within view? Would he have had a right to physically search my pocket if he didn't believe it was empty? This security information about that specific courthouse indicates no: "shall submit to a personal search before being admitted." But I'd been admitted.

Yet if I'd refused to answer, I expect I would have been subject to very negative consequences for acting suspicious. That's how they make innocent people compliant--because people like me don't know their rights or how to apply them, and fear potential DYWTDGT threats ("do you want to do genealogy today?") after traveling hundreds of miles.

So I'm hoping to find a discussion about public building security experiences and rights in general, similar to the information on travel security rights here. Any ideas?