While a few brave souls stand up for their rights, the majority are too afraid to. We submit to warrantless searches every time we fly (even if we know it's pure ineffective security theater) lest we miss our flight.

BTW. I heard a joke about current flight security policies in general (ie. not specific to any country) that "you can board the plane with a fish in a bowl, as long as you dispose of water before entering" ;).

As far as I know, there's no specific right to international travel in the US Constitution, but the law and the courts have generally held that withholding a citizen's ability to enter and exit the country should not be used punitively.[0]

That being said, the First Amendment specifically protects citizens' ability to petition the government for redress of grievances, as well as publicly assemble.[1] I know that people have attempted to use that to establish a definitive right to travel, as in Gilmore v. Gonzales [2]. I don't know whether they've had any success.

It's interesting that the Wikipedia page on citizens' rights doesn't have any sources for their claim that all US citizens have the right to re-enter the country [3]. However, I imagine that to deny someone right to entry would also deny them their right to due process, specifically guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment [4]. Heck, usually the government pro-actively tries to extradite criminals back to the US...

[0] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Freedom_of_mo... [1] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/First_Amendme... [2] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gilmore_v._Go... [3] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Citizenship_i... [4] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fifth_Amendme...