HIGH COURT BACKS CUSTOMS POWER TO CONDUCT SEARCHES AT BORDERS

WASHINGTON -- In a ruling the Bush administration views as vital to its war
against terrorism, the Supreme Court bolstered the powers of U.S. Customs
officials to conduct searches, allowing border agents to conduct extensive
searches of vehicles at border crossings without reasonable suspicion of
criminal activity.

A unanimous court ruled that the Constitution's protection against
unreasonable searches and seizures doesn't apply fully when it comes to the
U.S. policing its borders. "The government's interest in preventing the
entry of unwanted persons and effects is at its zenith at the international
border," Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the court.

The opinion overturns a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
San Francisco, in the case against Manuel Flores-Montano, who was caught
with 81 pounds of marijuana in his gas tank while trying to cross the
border near San Diego. Customs agents discovered the marijuana after
disassembling the gas tank of his 1987 Ford Taurus wagon.

Mr. Flores-Montano argued that the search was illegal, and the appeals
court agreed, saying law-enforcement officers must have a reasonable
suspicion of criminal activity before conducting such a search. But the
high court ruled that customs officials' authority "includes the authority
to remove, disassemble and reassemble a vehicle's fuel tank."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner hailed the
decision. "It couldn't have come at a more significant time," he said. "It
is especially important given that our priority mission now is to search
for terrorists and terrorist weapons."

Although several justices had expressed interest in Customs' new
antiterrorism mandate when the case was argued before the court, the
government didn't make the war on terrorism a central argument. The U.S.
Customs Service, now the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and
Border Protection agency, historically has had the broadest powers of
search and seizure of any law enforcement agency in the country.

Mr. Bonner said in an interview that the appeals court ruling, if allowed
to stand, would have been a significant setback to efforts to protect the
country from terrorists. "In this post-9/11 environment there needs to be
the authority to conduct searches without warrant or reason on our
borders," he said.

The court, however, suggested there is a limit to how far those searches
can go. In a footnote, Justice Rehnquist wrote that some vehicle searches
- -- he suggests drilling a hole in a gas tank -- might be too damaging to
pass constitutional muster. He also wrote that a search of Mr.
Flores-Montano's body might be held to a different standard.

Still, legal experts said the decision strengthens police powers in border
enforcement. "If it's border searches of property, it's carte blanche,"
said David L. Hudson Jr., a Nashville, Tenn., attorney who has studied the
case. "This decision is not terribly surprising, given the whole border
control issue and the war on terror."

(U.S. v. Flores-Montano)

In another unanimous ruling, the justices said the family of the late
Vincent Foster Jr., a top aide to President Clinton, can block the public
release of Mr. Foster's autopsy photos. The opinion ends a bid by Los
Angeles lawyer Allan Favish to gain access to photographs; Mr. Foster
committed suicide in 1993 in a public park outside Washington. It also
gives immediate family members -- and not just the individuals involved --
the power to block federal Freedom of Information Act requests on privacy
grounds.

"Our holding ensures that the privacy interests of surviving family members
would allow the government to deny these gruesome requests in appropriate
cases," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the court's decision. Mr. Foster
committed suicide while working as a top aide for former President Clinton.
The National Park Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Congress
and the federal Office of Independent Counsel all conducted investigations
into the death of Mr. Foster, concluding his death was a suicide.

(National Archives and Records Administration v. Favish)