Reply #7: It is random precisely because of the 4th Amendment precedents in this area [View All]

[jberryhill]

There isn't "probable cause" to even use a metal detector at an airport.

A metal detector is itself a search.

This poses a dilemma. Either you eviscerate the Fourth Amendment to nothing, or you say that, as an administrative proposition we are going to send everyone through the metal detector. The "administrative search doctrine" was developed to apply in situations like airport searches and sobriety checkpoints. You can search everyone or a statistical sample of everyone. What you cannot do, under the Fourth Amendment, is to select people for searching based on hunches, race, how they are dressed, age, etc. Because when you start selecting people for search based on less than either reasonable suspicion (Terry v Ohio) or probable cause, THEN you have thrown the Fourth Amendment out the window.