As a past ACLU donor, this is the one bit of agita they sponsor that drives me nuts. There are cases, from decades ago, that establish that the USG cannot conduct warrantless searches under the border search exemption simply because the search occurs within 100 miles of a border.
Half the country (well, half the part of the country that pays attention to this stuff) really believes that they're in a "4th Amendment Free Zone" so long as they're 100 miles of Canada, or an ocean. One worries that some of these people will therefore decide not to refuse searches.
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As a past ACLU donor, this is the one bit of agita they sponsor that drives me nuts. There are cases, from decades ago, that establish that the USG cannot conduct warrantless searches under the border search exemption simply because the search occurs within 100 miles of a border.
Half the country (well, half the part of the country that pays attention to this stuff) really believes that they're in a "4th Amendment Free Zone" so long as they're 100 miles of Canada, or an ocean. One worries that some of these people will therefore decide not to refuse searches.