United States v. Alexander Gonzalez

KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge:

This case turns on the legality of a government search of a government employee’s backpack as he left an Air Force base exchange.

Facts

Appellant Gonzalez worked at the McChord Air Force Base Exchange. As he left work, one day, a store detective asked him to let her look in his backpack. The government concedes in its brief that for purposes of this appeal her actions “are those of a government employee.” Mr. Gonzalez concedes in his brief that he understood “that employees were required to allow such searches,” because he had signed something when he started work so…