A federal judge ruled today that random police searches of bags and backpacks in the New York subways are constitutional, finding that they are effective in helping to deter a terrorist attack.

Rejecting a challenge to the searches by the New York Civil Liberties Union, Judge Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court in Manhattan decided that "governmental interest in preventing a terrorist bombing of New York City's subway system is vitally important." He concluded that the invasion of passengers' privacy was minimal enough to be justified by the deterrent effect of the searches on potential terrorists.

...

The ruling upheld a program of searches that New York police started in the subways on July 22, soon after terrorist bombings in the subways in London. Based on a random selection process, police set up checkpoints at entrances to a subway station and then search passengers' bags at randomly selected intervals - every fifth passenger, for example. Passengers can refuse to open their bags, but they may not enter the subway with a bag they did not allow police to search.

The civil liberties group argued that the searches were too infrequent and haphazard to be effective and so did not justify the privacy invasion of searching passengers without specific cause.

Judge Berman said his ruling, after a three-day bench trial, was based mainly on his assessment of the credibility of the witnesses for both sides, a contest decisively won, in his view, by the city.

"Because the threat of terrorism is great and the consequences of unpreparedness may be catastrophic, it would seem foolish not to rely upon those qualified persons in the best position to know," the judge wrote.

So, searches for deterrence of terrorists are now constitutional. Outside of this limited context, I submit that this holding has little force.

[cross posted on www.FourthAmendment.com]

Update: (TL) Don't forget to get your TalkLeft Fourth Amendment subway tote here.