SUPREME COURT RULES ON BUS SEARCHES

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police who want to look
for drugs or evidence of other crimes do not have to first inform public
transportation passengers of their legal rights.

The ruling gives police guidance on how to approach and search passengers,
a case with renewed interest as officers seek out possible terrorists on
public transportation.

The case focused on the difference between police questioning on a bus and
in a less confining environment, such as a sidewalk. In both instances,
police would need permission or probable cause to search someone, but the
justices rejected arguments that passengers, confined to small spaces,
might feel coerced to go along.

The court ruled 6-3 that officers in Tallahassee, Fla., were within their
rights as they questioned and searched two men aboard a Greyhound bus in 1999.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said the passengers
did not have to be told that they didn't have to cooperate.

The Bush administration invoked the war on terrorism in asking the Supreme
Court to get involved in the case, but the court majority did not
specifically refer to that argument. Kennedy did note that public
transportation riders understand the risks from potential criminals in
their midst.

"Bus passengers answer officers' questions and otherwise cooperate not
because of coercion, but because the passengers know that their
participation enhances their own safety and the safety of those around
them," Kennedy wrote.

Three officers boarded the bus, bound from Fort Lauderdale to Detroit. One
officer introduced himself to Christopher Drayton and Clifton Brown, and
told them he was looking for illegal drugs and weapons.

He asked to pat down the men's baggy clothing. The men agreed, and officers
felt hard objects on the men's legs that turned out to be packets of cocaine.

"It is beyond question that had this encounter occurred on the street, it
would be constitutional. The fact that an encounter takes place on a bus
does not on its own transform standard police questioning of citizens into
an illegal seizure," Kennedy wrote for the court.

On the street, the person being stopped could simply refuse to cooperate
and keep walking. Unless police had good reason to pursue the person
further, they would be free to go.

Drayton and Brown argued that they did not have the same option while
seated on the bus. They were convicted and sentenced on drug charges.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the cocaine should not have
been admitted as evidence, because the officers failed to tell the men they
were not required to cooperate. That court said the encounter violated the
Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Monday's ruling overturns that decision.

In a dissent, Justice David H. Souter said that three officers "pinned-in"
passengers on the stopped bus.

"The situation is like the one in the alley, with civilians in close
quarters unable to move effectively, being told their cooperation is
expected," wrote Souter, who was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens and
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

He said because of terrorist concerns, airplane passengers know they must
submit to searches.

"The commonplace precautions of air travel have not, thus far, been
justified for ground transportation," Souter wrote.

Donna Shea, legal director of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, said police will use the ruling as justification for
aggressive questioning.

"I think police will continue intimidating passengers," she said. The
ruling "gives bus passengers a lesser expectation of privacy. I think
that's unconstitutional."

The case is United States v. Drayton, 01-631.