## Facts

- Sergio Ramon Marquez attempted to board a domestic flight from Seattle to Anchorage and entered the TSA checkpoint at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.
- TSA diverted Marquez to a “selectee lane,” where passengers are subjected to additional screening regardless of whether the x-ray scan or walkthrough magnetometer indicates an alarm.
- The selectee designation was made through random selection, without any individualized suspicion.
- Marquez placed his coat, shoes, and carry-on luggage on the x-ray belt, walked through the walkthrough magnetometer, and then sat for secondary screening.
- A TSA screener used a handheld magnetometer to wand Marquez’s body; it alerted near his hip.
- When the screener attempted to check the alerted area by touch, Marquez swatted the screener’s hand away; during brief contact, the screener felt a hard object consistent with possible explosives.
- Further screening revealed approximately two kilograms of cocaine concealed under Marquez’s pants.
- Marquez was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
- The district court denied Marquez’s motion to suppress; Marquez entered a conditional plea preserving appellate review of the suppression ruling.

## Issues

1. Whether random selection of passengers for additional handheld magnetometer screening at an airport checkpoint is a reasonable administrative search under the Fourth Amendment.
2. Whether limited physical contact and follow-up screening after a wand alarm exceeded the permissible scope of an airport administrative search aimed at detecting weapons or explosives.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress.
- Random secondary screening with a handheld magnetometer, in addition to standard walkthrough magnetometer and x-ray screening, was a reasonable administrative search.
- The limited physical contact and continued inquiry after the wand alarm were reasonably related to identifying potential weapons or explosives and did not exceed the scope of a permissible airport screening search.

## Legal Principles

- Airport passenger and baggage screenings are administrative searches subject to Fourth Amendment reasonableness limits.
- Administrative-search reasonableness is determined by balancing the government’s safety need against the degree of privacy intrusion, not by probable cause or individualized suspicion.
- Random, neutral selection methods support constitutionality by limiting discretionary or discriminatory enforcement.
- Screening steps may escalate when an initial screening method produces an alarm or otherwise suggests a potential threat, so long as subsequent measures remain directed at detecting weapons or explosives and are not excessive in scope.

## Conclusion

The court held that TSA’s random “selectee lane” screening using a handheld magnetometer and limited follow-up contact after an alarm was a constitutionally reasonable administrative search, so the cocaine discovered during the screening was not suppressed and the conviction was upheld.


United States v. Marquez, 410 F.3d 612 (9th Cir. 2005)