Originally Posted by
FWAAA
As bocastephen has alluded, the holding of this case had nothing to do with whether screeners could physically detain passengers. Just another criminal seeking to supress evidence of a search he claims was unreasonable because he said he wanted to terminate the search. The screeners told the criminal he couldn't leave - they didn't forcibly restrain him.
Do you have a citation where the holding concerned detention by screeners?
FWIW: The most frightening sentence from that case is the following:
The existence and scope of implied consent must be examined in light of all the circumstances, and such circumstances—and correlated societal expectations—may change over time.
In other words: the more scared we are, the more rights we may deny.
Closely related is the notion that even where the primary screening does not "affirmatively reveal anything suspicious," a secondary is still permitted simply because notwithstanding the none discovery, the primary did not "rule out every possibility of dangerous contents."
Following this argument, even a full rectal examination would be considered to have been impliedly consented to, nothing short of a full rectal can rule out no dangerous contents are hidden within one's bum. They court may make some overtures of protecting against further, more intrusive, examinations, but as it noted itself, standards "change over time." In effect, the court was greasing the skids for the slippery slope, not erecting the barricades one expects from the judiciary.
Is this really the America we want?
As
AUKAI addresses consent for search in the contect of evidence suppression, and as the OP's friend consented and completed to the search, it would seem logical at this point he could have left for steetside and TSA would be powerless to stop him. As noted by others, it could inform LEO and they could take actions consistent with their powers.
The more interesting questions, I ask in ignorance, is under what conditions may TSA deny access to the secure side of the airport. (For this questions, I treat the search area as a DMZ of sorts.)