Bond v. United States

In Bond v. United States, 529 U.S. 334 (2000), a border patrol agent boarded a bus, squeezed the defendant's bag stored in an overhead compartment above the defendant's seat and found a "brick-like" object, later identified as methamphetamine. (Bond, supra, 529 U.S. at page 334.) The court held, violated the defendant's reasonable expectations of privacy, and concomitantly his Fourth Amendment rights. The court reasoned that the defendant could reasonably expect that other persons on the bus might handle his luggage; however, the defendant could also reasonably expect that his luggage would not be squeezed in an exploratory manner. (Bond, supra, 529 U.S. at pages 338-339.) The Court held it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment for an officer boarding a bus at an immigration checkpoint to squeeze and physically manipulate the luggage of passengers placed in overhead bins. (Ibid.) The court distinguished these circumstances from cases where the police examination involved no physical invasion, and where the property was not protected from inspection but, rather, was open to public observation. (Id. at p. 337.)