Airline Passenger Can�t Avoid Screening By Not Flying

A prospective airline passenger can�t avoid a secondary security screening by saying he no longer intends to fly and wants to leave the terminal, a Court has ruled. The defendant checked in at the airport ticket counter, but did not produce a government-issued picture ID. Because he didn�t have ID, he was subjected to a secondary screening pursuant to Transportation Security Administration procedures after he walked through the magnetometer and had his belongings x-rayed. Before the second screening, the defendant told TSA officials he wanted to leave the airport, but they wouldn�t let him. A subsequent search uncovered methamphetamine and a pipe. The defendant sought to suppress the evidence, arguing that the secondary screening violated his rights. Although he had consented to the initial screening, he argued that he had elected not to fly rather than undergo the secondary screening, which revoked his implied consent. But the Court disagreed. It said the Defendant impliedly consented to a secondary search of his person by consenting to the first screening, and that he could not subsequently revoke his consent.