The Constitutionality of Airport Searches

This Note will discuss airport searches in comparison to several situations in which the courts have found that the requirements of the fourth amendment do not apply or are satisfied even in the absence of a warrant: border searches, administrative searches, stop-and-frisk searches, and searches under express or implied consent. None of these are perfectly analogous to the present airport procedures. Therefore, if airport searches are to be allowed, either the procedures must be modified to fit the established exceptions, or a new exception to the warrant requirement of the fourth amendment must be created.