Okay, I can't blame this one on Bush. ;)

Nope. But you can still blame the Republicans. According to an encyclopedia, the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act was co-sponsored by a Repubican Representative (Hawley) and a Republican Senator (Smoot). It was then signed by a Republican president (Hoover).

For those of you who requested the paper I give TSA when searching my bags with documents, can you please make sure you gave me your email addy's in the PM. I will try and send them out today.

With the time you've spent on all this writing, you could have checked out the "constitutionality" squibs in the U.S. Code Annotated for the statute in question, 19 U.S.C. § 1305. :)

Did Jock Sturges have problems with customs?

Some quick reading for you to enlighten you on the Canadian Consitution since nobody else has bothered to find the url:

Canadian Constitution for your persual

Hope this helps you in your analysis of the situation. Always happy to do some researching.

Sanosuke!

What is the significance of the exclamation mark? Does it have to do with the meaning of your user name?

PM me sometime. And I'll clear it up for ya. I don't want to throw this topic off track.

Sanosuke!

Sorry, I'm not qualified to analyze Canadian law. :)

And what happens if they refuse to sign the form but search your bags?

I can't say that I think it's "just" for clients to get screwed like this because their attorneys were subject to an unreasonable search. And I suppose the same argument would thus apply to the clients themselves - if their bags were ever searched while carrying around secret documents, etc.

Technically speaking, depending on the mood of the judge you could have been found to have waived the privilege. What you are supposed to do is refuse the search and not fly in order to protect the privilege. Generally speaking after explaining to the supervisor why this is important I haven't run into much trouble having the supervisors sign it. Heck at MSP if I use one checkpoint (and crew) and they have to do the search they know the drill and just ask me for the paperwork. Its kind of funny when it happens, which isn't that often.

The situation isn't the best for attorneys. It is more a damned if we do, damned if we don't. We have to protect our client's interests, yet we have to go see them too.

Freedom of Rights in Canada:
Similiar to the Bill of Rights in the USA

Sanosuke!

Althought the black-letter "constitutional law" might be similar between the countries, any sort of professional interpretation on how a given situation would be treated under Canadian law is pointless without, at a bare minimum, an understanding of Canadian judicial precedents and legislative/executive interpretations (and knowledge of the degree to which they play a role in adjudicating future issues that may arise).

Easily answered here: Canadian Statues and Laws

The most pertienent information regarding protection of personal info and such: Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

AND

Canadian Privacy Act

Sanosuke!

It is fair to say that I receive lottery spam every day, so the email (at least the spam box) on my laptop could have been deemed to have contained advertisements for lotteries!

Carrying around a copy of one's diploma could look suspicious. The CBP/TSA officer might think it's part of a cover story. Besides, my J.D. diploma is framed and measures over two feet on each side, so it doesn't fit in the overhead compartment. :)

Business cards and bar cards, though, would be a good idea. (For that matter, I never leave home without my business cards, because I never know when I'll be asked for one by a potential client.) I've read at least one story of an attorney being asked by Customs for a business card to back up his answer to the, "What do you do for a living?" question.

I hadn't been worried about the TSA wanting to go through my files; at most, I figured they'd ask me to turn on the laptop to prove it's actually a computer and not a bomb in disguise. But I have considered the CBP issue, especially since I live relatively near the border, and here are my thoughts on it.

• I don't carry my laptop across the border unless it's necessary. They can't search what I don't have.
• I don't doubt that U.S. and Canadian Customs have the authority to access my hard drive... but if I'm using encryption or whatever, am I required to help them out by telling them the password?
• If I'm entering Canada, the officer could simply deny me admission. In that case, I likely would explain what I do for a living and ethics Rule 1.6 (confidentiality), present my business and/or bar card if asked, and use my professional judgment to handle the situation as it develops.
• Coming back into the U.S. is a slightly different matter. I'd politely decline to provide the password and explain that disclosing it could be an ethics violation that could subject me to discipline. They're welcome to haul me before a federal judge... even if the judge orders me to provide the password, I think he or she will at least understand why I initially refused and go easy on me.