ABSTRACT
In United States v. Sokolow, 490 US 1—commonly referred to as the "drug-courier profile" case—the US Supreme Court upheld a search of a suspect in an airport on the grounds that agents had a "reasonable suspicion" that he was engaged in drug trafficking. Sokolow also was traveling under an assumed name, and despite the fact that travel from Honolulu to Miami took twenty hours; he scheduled his stay in Miami for only forty-eight hours. The ticket agent was suspicious: The twenty-five-year-old Sokolow appeared nervous, was dressed in a black jumpsuit, and wore gold jewelry; and neither he nor his companion checked any of the pieces of luggage in their possession. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed Sokolow's conviction on the grounds that the search was unreasonable. If the Sokolow ruling is extended, civil libertarians contend, the Court's rationale could be used to uphold other forms of profiling.
