US v. Arnold, 533 F. 3d 1003 - Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit 2008 - Google Scholar
Excerpts:
"Courts have long 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, United States v. Tsai, 282 F.3d 690, 696(9th Cir.2002); (2) a traveler's "purse, wallet, or pockets," Henderson v. United States, 390 F.2d 805, 808 (9th Cir.1967); (3) papers found in containers such as pockets, see United States v. Grayson, 597 F.2d 1225, 1228-29 (9th Cir.1979) (allowing search without particularized suspicion of papers found in a shirt pocket); and (4) pictures, films and other graphic materials. See United States v. Thirty-Seven Photographs, 402 U.S. 363, 376, 91 S.Ct. 1400, 28 L.Ed.2d 822 (1971); see also United States v. 12,200-Ft. Reels of Super 8MM. Film, 413 U.S. 123, 124-25, 93 S.Ct. 2665, 37 L.Ed.2d 500 (1973) ("Import restrictions and searches of persons or packages at the national borders rest on different considerations and different rules of constitutional law from domestic regulations.")."
