To enter most courthouses these days, a person must submit to a security search. Often, one must walk through a metal detectors and pass one’s personal items through an x-ray device. Are these security procedures constitutional? Are there any limits to how intrusive they may be? Read more to find out. In general, courthouse searches are permissible administrative searches. Virtually every case to consider the matter has ruled that searches of this kind are permissible administrative searches. The leading case may be McMorris v. Alioto, 567 F.2d 897 (9th Cir. 1978), in which the court considered a policy requiring all persons entering a state courthouse to walk through a metal detector and to hand over their personal items for visual inspection, though officers were directed not to inspect written material. The court stated that administrative searches of this kind are permissible when “clearly necessary to secure a vital governmental interest, such as protecting sensitive facilities from a real danger of violence,” and found that various threats and acts of violence against police buildings and courthouses “justified a limited search procedure” for visitors. The court further found that the procedure in question was reasonable as it was not very intrusive and focused on the detection of weapons rather than evidence of crimes. Many cases since then have reached the same conclusion. See, e.g., State v. Kurth, 981 S.W.2d 410 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998) (similar procedure deemed a reasonable administrative search); Rhode Island Defense Attorneys Ass’n v. Todd, 463 A.2d 1370 (R.I. 1983) [...]
Faculty Coordinators
