## Facts

- John Woodward Ickes, Jr. attempted to enter the United States from Canada at the Ambassador Bridge port of entry near Detroit, Michigan, driving a van that appeared to contain all his possessions.
- Customs officers referred Ickes to secondary inspection and began a routine inspection of the van.
- During the inspection, an officer viewed a videotape in a camera that increased suspicion due to its focus on a young ball boy.
- Officers then conducted a more thorough search and found marijuana-related items and a copy of a Virginia arrest warrant for Ickes.
- Officers discovered photo albums containing numerous photographs of provocatively posed prepubescent boys, many nude or semi-nude.
- Officers searched a computer and diskettes found in the van and located digital images of child pornography.
- Ickes was charged with transporting child pornography under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A.
- The district court denied Ickes’s motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the border search, and he was convicted.

## Issues

1. Whether a warrantless search of a vehicle and its contents at the international border, including a computer and electronic media, is authorized by 19 U.S.C. § 1581(a) and permissible as a routine border search without individualized suspicion.
2. Whether the First Amendment requires a heightened standard or exception limiting border searches of expressive materials, including digital files.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress and affirmed the conviction.
- The court held the search of Ickes’s van and its contents, including electronic devices and data, was a valid routine border search under 19 U.S.C. § 1581(a) and the border search doctrine.
- The court declined to recognize a First Amendment-based exception for expressive materials and refused to impose heightened requirements for searching digital content at the border.

## Legal Principles

- Under 19 U.S.C. § 1581(a), customs officers have broad authority at the border to examine and search vehicles and “any” items on board, which extends to computers and electronic storage media.
- Routine border searches are reasonable by virtue of the sovereign interest in controlling entry and intercepting contraband; they do not require a warrant, probable cause, or reasonable suspicion.
- Expressive character of materials does not create a categorical constitutional limit on routine border search authority; courts may refuse to carve out a First Amendment exception that would restrict inspection of physical or digital expressive content at the border.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit held that customs officers may conduct warrantless, suspicionless routine border searches of vehicles and their contents, including computers and digital media, and it rejected a First Amendment exception that would limit border inspection of expressive materials.


United States v. Ickes, 393 F.3d 501 (4th Cir. 2005)