Fourth Amendment - Checkpoints and Roadblocks

1975), the Supreme Court held that a roving patrol may "stop motorists in the general area of the border for brief inquiry into their residence status" only "if the stopping officer is 'aware of specific articulable facts, together with rational inferences from these facts, that reasonably warrant suspicion' that a vehicle contains illegal aliens
             " Probable cause or consent was not required because "traffic-checking practices" which were not for the purpose of searching "involve a different balance of public and private interests and appropriately are subject to less stringent constitutional safeguards." .
             (a) Border agents are allowed to search your belongings without probable cause, but need to have reasonable suspicion before search of electronics. .
             In United States v. Arnold, 523 F.3d 941 (9th Cir. Cal. 2008) the courts held that searches of closed containers and their contents can be conducted at the border without particularized suspicion under the Fourth Amendment. Searches of the following specific items have been upheld without particularized suspicion: (1) the contents of a traveler's briefcase and luggage; (2) a traveler's purse, wallet, or pockets; (3) papers found in containers such as pockets; and (4) pictures, films and other graphic materials. .
             Customs and Border Protection agents who are a part of the Department of Homeland Security are permitted to search you and your belongings without probable cause or a search warrant. However, when it comes to your electronic devises the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that border agents must have reasonable suspicion before they can legally conduct a forensics search of laptops, mobile, phones, camera memory cards, and other electronic devices. Moreover, border protection and homeland security checkpoints are still allowed to conduct "quick look" checks on your electronics. United States v. Cotterman, 709 F.