Court Opinion

ID: 9849350
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:38:43.159918+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:18.878375
License: Public Domain

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I join Parts I and III of the per curiam opinion, and I agree that the searches at issue took place at the functional equivalent of the border. I disagree, however, with Part II of the opinion, which upholds the suspicionless search of Seljan’s FedEx packages. I do not believe that the Fourth Amendment permits federal customs inspectors acting without reasonable suspicion to read what is obviously a person’s letters or papers merely because the *1048inspector finds those items in a package destined to cross the U.S. international border.
The Fourth Amendment protects “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.” U.S. Const, amend. IV (emphasis added). The border search doctrine is a narrow exception the Fourth Amendment prohibition against warrantless searches without probable cause. United States v. Sutter, 340 F.3d 1022, 1025 (9th Cir.2003). However, although “the expectation of privacy is less at the border than it is in the interior,” United States v. Flores-Montano, 541 U.S. 149, 154, 124 S.Ct. 1582, 158 L.Ed.2d 311 (2004), privacy is not extinguished entirely.
Any rule allowing government officials to read private papers without individualized suspicion risks serious intrusions on privacy. People send many types of documents through FedEx and other express consignment services: diaries, letters, materials protected by the attorney-client and attorney work-product privileges, trade secrets, medical records, and financial records. Cf. United States v. Arnold, 454 F.Supp.2d 999, 1003-04 (C.D.Cal.2006). The mere fact that these items cross an international border does not give customs officials absolute license to read their contents.
The majority’s position subjects letters enclosed in FedEx packages with foreign destinations to examination even though they would be shielded from government review if the recipients lived in the United States. A woman in Los Angeles could send without fear of government snooping a letter to a friend in Boston, but not to her mother in Mexico City. Suspicionless searches of documents sent to and from attorneys also raise troubling issues. Many materials sent through FedEx contain confidential client information or are protected by the work-product and attorney-client privileges. By sending a package containing client files to Canada, does an attorney waive these privileges?
The majority would uphold the search of Seljaris FedEx packages because the letter was within the customs inspector’s plain view. Maj. Op. at 1043. But looking at a piece of paper is not the same as reading its contents. Moreover, I disagree with the majority’s assessment that the criminality of the letter was “immediately apparent.” Maj. Op. at 1044, 1045. Only by reading individual lines carefully can a reader find any hint of wrongdoing or base intentions.1
What was immediately apparent is that the paper was personal correspondence. It was formatted like an informal letter and displayed a large cartoon character. Inspector Oliva, at a glance, could determine that the paper before him was a letter rather than contraband or a dutiable article. At that point, he should have put the letter back in its envelope. Whether we label what Oliva did next as “reading” or “scanning” — and Oliva uses both labels (in the same sentence, no less) to describe his actions — the conclusion is the same: Oliva’s inspection impermissibly invaded Seljaris privacy.
The majority invokes the specter of terrorism to support its position. See Maj. Op. at 1043 n. 8. This argument is undermined by the availability of another means by which terrorists might transport dangerous documents — the U.S. Postal Service. For letters sent through the U.S. Postal Service, customs regulations require either written consent or a search warrant to open letters that appear to contain only correspondence. See 19 C.F.R. § 145.3(b). Even when sealed mail appears to contain more than correspon*1049dence, customs inspectors must have reasonable cause to open a package sent through the U.S. Postal Service. See id. § 145.3(a). After customs inspectors open a package under these regulations, they must always have a search warrant or written authorization from the sender to read any enclosed correspondence. See id. § 145.3(c). In short, federal regulations for U.S. mail already impose a standard more stringent than what the majority today deems an “unworkable and unreasonable constraint” on customs officials.
I do not suggest that the government may never search articles found in international packages. Rather, I would hold that the government must have reasonable suspicion that papers in a package constitute contraband or evidence of wrongdoing before officers may read the contents of those papers. Nothing prevents the government from seizing what immediately appears on its face to be child pornography or terrorist bombing plans, for example. See United States v. Abbouchi, No. 05-50962, 502 F.3d 850, 852-56, 2007 WL 2493507, at *1-*4 (9th Cir.2007) (upholding seizure of what customs inspectors searching a UPS package could immediately determine to be potentially fraudulent social security and resident alien cards).
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.
*1050APPENDIX
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