Lawsuits against TSA are piling up quickly

The Transportation Security Administration’s little body-scanning/pat-down problem isn’t just keeping us media types busy. Lawyers are having a field day with it, too.

The latest lawsuit against the TSA was filed earlier this week by two Harvard Law School students who claim the airport security checks involving full-body scanners and pat-downs are unconstitutional. The suit claims the screenings violate their Fourth Amendment rights prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures.

Here’s a rundown of the most high-profile cases.

“Unconscionable” pat-downs. A Colorado attorney, Gary Fielder, has asked a federal judge to order the TSA to abandon its airport screening procedures for United States citizens. In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver last week, he claims his two daughters, ages 9 and 15, and a family friend underwent a TSA pat-down in San Diego. He called the pat-downs “disgusting, unconscionable, sexual in nature” and in violation of the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches.

Screening process is detrimental. An Arkansas man, Robert Dean, filed a federal lawsuit against the TSA, claiming that the agency’s new screening rules are detrimental to his “emotional, psychological and mental well-being.” The suit, filed last week in federal court in Little Rock, asks the court to issue an injunction stopping the TSA from conducting full-body pat-down searches and using the full-body imaging scanners.

“Unreasonable search and seizure.” Michael Roberts, a commercial pilot from Memphis, filed a lawsuit earlier last month alleging that the new screening procedures violate his constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure. In response, the TSA has lifted some of its screening requirements for pilots.

Suspend the scanners. One of the oldest suits, filed in July by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), asks a district court to suspend the deployment of body scanners at US airports, pending an independent review. EPIC said that the program is “unlawful, invasive, and ineffective.” It argued that the federal agency has violated the Administrative Procedures Act, the Privacy Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Fourth Amendment. EPIC cited the invasive nature of the devices, the TSA’s disregard of public opinion, and the impact on religious freedom.

Unfortunately, the story — and the suits — are not going away any time soon. As consumer advocate Ralph Nader noted just after the Thanksgiving holiday, “If you thought this week was bad, brace yourself for a tsunami of protests in the days ahead.” He suggests even more lawsuits may be in the works, adding,

Changing this policy, or even backtracking, doesn’t mean we’d suddenly be flying on a wing and a prayer. In fact, better use of available intelligence alone would have stopped last year’s Christmas underwear bomber from flying to the USA. Indiscriminate and inefficient dragnet-type security checks of whole populations, if anything, make us less safe by focusing on the wrong things.

Indeed, this may be just the beginning of a long, drawn-out period of litigation that the TSA can’t possibly win.

(Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • cjr

    The more lawsuits, the merrier.

  • Morton Brown

    I am not always in agreement with what Ralph Nader says, but in this instance, I think he’s right on the money. Indiscriminate searches, body scans, pat-downs, etc. is merely a case of smoke and mirrors, intended to make us think that TSA is doing something to effectively protect us, whereas in reality, they are doing little other than spending our money where it does the least good.

  • Heather

    I’m with cjr. The more the merrier.
    It’s not that I’m against security, but I think they went overboard on a lot of things to the point where most of the procedures are A. not effective B. inefficient C. illogical or D. any mixture of the previous. Hell I have nothing against the people personally but I think the name at this point could be changed to the toothpaste safety administration (saving the world one tube at a time) with a toothpaste tube and a no sign overlaying it as the new shield.
    Seriously though they need to come up with better ideas for staying ahead of the terrorist threat they so eagerly tout (ie it’s for your safety) and stop wasting taxpayer money with inefficient and ineffective methods.

  • EricR

    If the TSA’s policies made me safer, I’d support them. But even if airports had zero security, it’d still be safer to fly across the country than to drive a car to your local grocer.

    While I understand that one feels more secure in a car because you’re in control of it – whereas you’re relying on an unknown pilot and undependable airport security to keep you safe in an airplane – that doesn’t change the fact that the number of all-time airline deaths/injuries is so small as to be nearly statistically insignificant…especially when compared to the hundreds of thousands of automotive-related deaths.

    On average, 93 people died every day on U.S. roads in 2009 (according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Only 3 people died on average due to airplanes (according to the Aircraft Crashes Record Office).

    In 2009, the number of people killed in automobile accidents was 33,808 (according to NHTSA). But ACRO reports 13,379 total airline deaths SINCE 1999. So there were 20,429 more automobile deaths in just 2009 than airlines deaths over the entire past decade.

    There have been so few airline accidents since 1922 that they all fit on a single Wikipedia page, and many of those listed accidents didn’t even result in death (like Sully’s “landing” in the Hudson): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_commercial_aircraft

    The TSA is a waste of money, an impediment to travel, a theatrical circus to make politicians look like they’re protecting constituents (the same politicians who are EXEMPT from TSA groping), and a violation of our Constitution’s 4th Amendment. People who naively agree to let the government subjugate them and sacrifice their Constitutional rights are not making themselves any safer, and are contributing to the creation of a police state from which no good will ever come.

    And somehow this is all happening under a supposedly Socialist Left-Wing President and Congress (until January!) who were elected to remove us from war and the policies of the Bush Administration.

    Just goes to show you that you don’t always get what you pay for…. ;-)

  • Rich

    Excellent news. Why should Americans be treated like relatives on prison visiting day to travel in their own country? The more of our freedom the government gets away with taking, the more it wants to take. Before long you’ll need a ‘trusted traveler’ card to avoid being searched the next time you visit a mall. I’m proud to live in a country where the citizens take their privacy and the constitution seriously and refuse to surrender their liberties every time some political hack plays the ‘national security’ card.

  • DJP

    If nothing is acted now…wait till full body cavity searches are mandatory,

  • Tom

    Anyone can file a lawsuit anytime. Law students are notorious for silly suits, including the one filed against Froot Loops because they don’t contain fruit. The Constitution protects against unreasonable search and seizure — the Fourth Amendment. Is this unreasonable? The Bill of Rights isn’t a suicide pact. People are hijacking planes and creating violence. There have been dozens of airplanes, in addition to those of 9/11 destroyed. Rememeber Lockerbie? And the plane blown up over Canada? And the TWA flight on Long Island. And all those trains blown up in England, Spain and India? This isn’t a hypothetical threat and the TSA response is appropriate to the level of threat. Nobody needs to fly — they can drive, take a bus, a train, a boat, or use a telephone or the Internet to talk to distant relatives. People who see the TSA as the problem and not the terrorists are living in a dream world.

  • Andrew, NYC

    Tom, you haven’t read the comments above. The consensus is that TSA is NOT making us safer. For example, although it is theoretically possible that a young mom may bring explosives inside a breast milk bottle, that doesn’t mean that that she should be placed in a glass cage for 40 minutes and has to miss her flight. Terrorists are obviously a problem, but don’t you think there are better ways to defend against them?

    I’m flying to my native Moscow for Christmas/New Year, and I’m really worried about these “enhanced” procedures that my 8-year old daughter will have to endure. Once again, it is theoretically possible that a family with a happy 8-year old may be packing explosives; however, I’d rather take a chance that one of the other families on the plane does just that than expose my family to this sort of treatment. Unfortunately, I’m not given that choice. By the way, if I don’t fly, how do you suggest I get to my destination and back? Even if I could afford to sail, a ship take a week to get there, so by the time it reaches Russia it is already time to go back.

  • Heather

    @Tom
    I agree it’s not an imaginary threat, but I still respectfully disagree with the current policy as well as your beliefs. I don’t think that anyone bought a plane ticket is signing up for a suicide pact except the terrorists nor do I think the 4th amendment endorses such. I have no issue with a reasonable search, the problem is I don’t believe they are reasonable anymore and to tell people they don’t need to fly if they don’t like isn’t a good answer to the problem. I am guessing most people just want to travel, be safe, but maintain a sense of dignity and reason in the process.

    The terrorists are innovative and smart (in the sense that they keeping thinking of new ways… they are less smart in that blowing yourself or others up for any cause is beyond just stupidity) The TSA may be smart to say “hey now they are doing X we need something to counter X,” but they fumble on the execution and you get the current policies as a result.

    They need more than just reactionary procedures that are applied to all without common sense. It’s like trying to apply the same algebra formula to every problem. If you don’t use a bunch of different formulas on a test you can’t solve the problems you can’t get the answer and you fail the test.

    And human beings are even messier than algebra in the sense that there isn’t a set number of approaches like in algebra… sometimes you need to think outside the box.

  • Tom

    Three of my family members flew to London today and I’m glad that everybody on the plane was screened — even the people with bad hips, adult diapers, baby bottles, blond hair, nun garb, or otherwise felt that they were too good for screening.

  • http://jetiquette.org Margery

    Nader nails it. Many have also commented that the TSA and HS “are always fighting the last battle.” Every response, so far, has been to terrorist actions. We started taking off our shoes AFTER the shoebomber tried to light his shoe in flight, and got scanners w/patdowns AFTER the underwear bomber tried to light his shorts. (Don’t forget, there were many intelligence warnings about the underwear bomber that the various security agencies ignored and discounted.) Last month a ban was set on printer cassettes AFTER terrorists tried to use them as a weapon. The terrorists must be laughing up their sleeves at us (as they plan the next thing).

  • Duke Nukem

    Tom, The TSA Twit, Totting The TSA Tantrum!

  • cjr

    “Nobody needs to fly — they can drive, take a bus, a train, a boat, or use a telephone or the Internet to talk to distant relatives.”

    Tom, nobody here can take you seriously when you keep making inane comments like this. Please, stop trolling.

  • Mike

    Tom, you’re stating to everyone that fear has taken hold of you to such an extent that you no longer trust your neighbors, you no longer trust anyone. Well, your point of view is not the mainstream. Majority rules here buddy, get used to it.

    I’d hate to be so consumed by fear that I’d be willing to allow anyone to grope or strip search my loved ones. Read a book or two about propaganda. You’ll realize that your fears are being conjured up intentionally by an executive branch that is out of control and abusing its authority. They want you to give up you rights so that they can continue to abuse power. Duh!

  • Carver

    I almost never agree with Tom. But he does make at least one good point. It is naive of us to believe that there are groups of people who shouldn’t be screened. The people who want to kill us have no morals, no principles, and will do anything to attack us.

    Yes, that includes using women, remember Jihad Jane, who, according to the Washington Post is a “petite, blond-haired, blue-eyed high school dropout”

    Yes, that includes using children in the Palestine-Isreali conflict.

    Yes, that includes senior citizens in Algeria.

    I”m not defending the TSA or any particular practice. I am emphatically stating though that no one should be automatically excluded from screening because that’s who the terrorists will recruit next.

  • Brooklyn

    While some of these lawsuits may initially have a good outcome, the appeals will eventually make their way to the Supreme Court, which is squarely in the Government’s pocket. If only we had something like the European Court of Human Rights! But our government doesn’t even recognize most of those rights: it can torture, execute minors, invade other countries on the basis of information it knows to be false, and subject its people to illegal search, seizure and, oh yes, groping and virtual strip searches.

  • Dr Bill Toth

    This seems to be part of a bigger movement to restore a focus on the Constitution and it’s principles. Thank you

  • steve

    And the nursing mother was able to transfer the milk to a bunch of little plastic bottles and magically transform a potentially dangerous liquid to a benign substance. This proves the TSA has no intelligence.

  • Kathleen

    I have finally been pushed to far. We all need to stand up, en mass and quote a line from one of my favorite movies…”I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more”. We have officially surrendered our rights and freedoms. When a person has to agree to either be virtually strip searched or sexually assaulted multiple times a week just to earn a living (those of us who travel extensively for business) we have gone WAY to far. Next week I’m going to have to agree to have my teenage children either visually strip searched or sexually assaulted in order to take a vacation and my stomach is already churning. I do not feel this makes us any safer, it just makes me angry; it makes many people literally sob while being groped and humiliates everyone involved. Worst of all, we are all terrorized into not saying a word in objection for fear of being denial the right to freedom of movement on airplanes. This is unreasonable search and very few of us are in a position to give up our right to fly to avoid it. I can only imagine what freedoms we will asked to surrender next in the interests of national security.
    One of the biggest problems is just who is doing the groping. We are hiring thousand of screeners, paying them just above minimum wage ($29,131 / year according to the TSA’s job listings) and they have no educational requirements other than they have a basic command of English and “have customer service skills”; this group is competing for jobs flipping burgers or as parking lot attendants. I don’t mean to imply that they are not hard working individuals nor that they are not trying to do a good job, but the question is, are these the right individuals to do the job. I thought the electronic scanners might be a solution until I read the article about the TSA screener who attacked his co-workers after weeks of harassment about the small size of his penis that they had seen on the scanner screen – wrong level of detail is clearly being shown and the wrong level of professionalism is being displayed by people we are paying to keep us “safe”. I am not comfortable with a bunch of just above minimum wage jerks being allowed to see what amounts to naked pictures of everyone who needs to get on an airplane. NO ONE travels by air for fun – it is a grueling horrible process we all endure because we have to.
    What we need is SMARTER screening. Why aren’t we prescreening people with a safe traveler program (I’d go through A LOT of background checking to avoid being groped several times a week), utilizing high skilled interviewers to screen for potentially threats and utilizing modeling and other technologies to identify risks.

  • Mike in NC

    @Tom:

    Lockerbie: yes, that was terrorism
    Sept. 11: Yes, that was terrorism
    TWA 800 (Long Island) NOT Terrorism. That was a failure within the aircraft. (Fuel tank explosion)
    Air Canada: NOT Terrorism. That was a co-pilot of the aircraft who was having a crisis.

    But why let the facts get in the way of your “Anything for safety” rant.

    Nobody here says there shouldn’t be air security. What we’re saying is the porno-scopes and the under arrest pat-downs are unreasonable under the 4th amendment, and aren’t doing anything to help keep the airways secure.

  • Oline

    Yes at present we can drive take a train or take a boat or a combination of these to avoid the strip scans or groping. However they are already talking of installing these in train stations, bus stations and even embarkations for boats cutting off that type of option. I have also read considerations of putting such into place for entering malls. Then there is the F.A.S.T. vehicle I have seen a clip about that they are thinking of implementing for concerts and events These are tantamount to giving people lie detector tests in order to past security screening. Can we say violation of fifth amendment? Not to mention people being placed on domestic extremist lists for protesting such thing and other things so violating the first amendment as well. This is not about security. Bomb detecting dogs are employed by the FBI to protect their headquarters not this new technology and the dogs are more cost effective. From other things I have read the scanners and pat downs were supposed to be used only if the metal detector and wand methods were set off and the y were unable to resolve the matter. At least one of the videos has people being sent through instead of the metal detector.
    There is a German video where a physicist shows how he could beat the scanner. and you don’t need to know the language the visual says it all.
    A celebrity has gone through the scanner and pictures of his scan have been printed out and people actually got him to autograph it in Britain. Safe, people won’t know who it is of and the pictures won’t get out? I sincerely doubt that. Do they confiscate these minimum wage workers camera cell phones? Oh yeah then there are the workers who have systematically stolen stuff from the passengers undergoing security checks including a news camera where the guy was caught be cause the news agency saw it for sale on E-Bay.
    Security? I don’t think so. Based on the number of deaths in flight since 1999 vs those by car in 2009 I think I would take my chances with pre 2001 security even. Oh an an interesting note the underwear bomber was caught by his fellow passenger not these so-called security measures.

  • cjr

    http://wewontfly.com/orwellian-tsa-cnn-reporter-watchlist

    Everybody’s a terrorist. Right, Tom? Particularly reporters who do special reports on TSA?

    We can’t get airport security right. We can’t get watch lists right.

    There will be another terrorist attack some day. But it will be because we choose to continue to be vindictive against Americans and ignorant of the real threats.

  • Aaron

    Mr. Nader is right on. The problem isn’t just the scans; it’s that TSA isn’t making us any safer. No question that if the nude-o-scopes actually stopped a terrorist, it’d be all over the headlines, and yet – nothing. What a HUGE waste of taxpayer money.

    Meanwhile, the airlines don’t seem to be doing enough to stop this danger to their business. Last week I took my first trip on Amtrak instead of driving or flying, and it was lovely. Next week I’ll drive on a business trip that I normally would have flown, and right after that I’ll be taking Amtrak again because the first experience went so well. That’s $1000 of airfare NOT spent. Are you listening, o airline suits?

    Aaron

  • Louise

    I thought we were supposed to be ignoring Tom. Looks like he’s hooked quite a few. Again.

  • Monte

    Dear Sir:

    I wrote the following to TSA and the response follows:

    Me: “This is absurd and an extremely invasive. When will this end? How far will you go? The terrorists will just start shoving things up their butts, then what will you do? Full cavity searches? Come on, there’s got to be a better way.”

    TSA: “Thank you for your e-mail regarding pat-down procedures conducted at our Nation’s airports.
    At airports nationwide, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is implementing more streamlined, consistent, and thorough pat-down procedures at security checkpoints to provide a higher level of security and increase the safety of the traveling public. Patdowns are one important tool to help TSA detect hidden and dangerous items, such as explosives. Passengers should continue to expect an unpredictable mix of security layers that include explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, and canine teams, among others.
    Transportation Security Officers will conduct different pat-down procedures to resolve different types of anomalies. During the assessment, officers will use revised pat-down procedures in all instances to resolve anomalies. The updated pat-down procedures will address areas of the body that we know are used as areas to conceal potentially dangerous items, like explosives.
    TSA Administrator John Pistole has stated that TSA strives to ensure consistency whenever possible for passengers at security checkpoints. As always, all passengers have the right to request private screening at any time during the screening process, and patdowns are conducted by same-gender officers. However, passengers who are not willing to go through the screening process will not be permitted to fly.
    We understand and regret the discomfort and inconvenience you experienced as a result of pat-down procedures. Nevertheless, we believe these security measures are necessary and appropriate for ensuring the security and confidence of all air travelers. TSA continues to develop and deploy new technologies to address the explosives threat, and the use of pat-downs provides an additional layer of security at the checkpoint. For more information regarding the pat-down procedures, please visit TSA’s Web site (www.tsa.gov).
    We hope this information is helpful.
    TSA Contact Center”

  • Dana

    It doesn’t make us ‘safer’ to ever more invasively scan and search the same ordinary American travelers who aren’t the problem in the first place. Like when the TSA officer slowly and painstakingly wands an elderly lady’s bare feet and you wonder, uh, hello, isn’t it obvious those are naked, bare feet which are not concealing anything? TSOs don’t seem to do much actual thinking but rather just act out procedures, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. It especially seems to be women being picked on for searches, even though it’s men who have committed the actual terrorist acts.

  • Mimi

    I have a question, I’m not a frequent flyer but do they change those gloves, everytime a flyer goes through the process?

    Because if not, thats another lawsuit right there.

  • John

    The Lod Airport massacre was a terrorist attack that occurred on May 30, 1972, in which three members of the Japanese Red Army, on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), killed 26 people and injured 80 others at Tel Aviv’s Lod airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport). One of the attackers was killed by Israeli fire, another committed suicide, while the last survivor was captured after being wounded.
    Ever since this time they have been using racial profiling and they have never had an attack since and why? BECAUSE RACIAL PROFILING WORKS if you hang around bad people you should be put through extra screenings simple as that.

  • Mike

    Top the commenter who posted: “it’d still be safer to fly across the country than to drive a car to your local grocer due to more deaths in cars”
    It’s not because airplanes are safer, you fail to realize that we drive cars everyday not airplanes and there are more cars on the street then they are airplanes on air. So thats a major factor as to why statistically there are more deaths in cars. But if you speak about the people who worry being in an airplane as opposed to their car because they are in control of the car, they fail to realize that even though they are in control of their own car, they are not in control of a drunk or an accident caused due to another driver coming in contact with them. No one knows when it is their time to go, The innocent never dreamed that that tuesday morning in September, they were gonna pass away. So you can’t be as naive and think that airplanes or cars are safer then the other. You don’t know when tragedy or accidents can occur.

  • Reality

    The more the TSA gets sued, the bigger their Congressional budget appropriation gets because “hey, were fighting terrorism here!”

    Screening should be most vigorous on flights originating from OVERSEAS destinations bound for the US. All of this security theater re: domestic flights, is a huge waste of resources.

    Cargo and baggage are the most vulnerable followed by international passengers.

  • Robert

    US citizens can now enter the US without going through Immigration, at some airports, by signing up for and paying for a screening by the Federal Government. This information is then record via your passport all you need do then is have your passport scanned and you are free to enter. Early this year I was at the Miami Airport waiting to clear Immigration in a very long line when two men walked up to a scanner and within seconds were cleared to enter. Why not use the same system for boarding an airplane?

  • Robert

    Come to think of it, are TSA workers subjected to screenings and pat downs??? These Nut cases could very easily past an explosive to one their terrorist friends. I wounder if they would like to be groped. I could see it all now, right before work they could all grope each other. Maybe that’s how they get their training!

  • Steve

    As observed by Helen Keller: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.” TSA will never be satisfied, because there will always be the next terrorism attempts, followed by TSA’s responses for the next things that will “make us safer.” So, how much of our Constitutional rights, dignity, and humanity are we willing to exchange for higher levels of security? The ROI, Return On Investment, that additional rights we give up for security will diminish, until we perish.

  • Mary

    I’m fine with having !effective! screening… If they’d get dogs, like the FBI and the military, they might actually catch somebody. Besides— I have more faith in the odds the passenger sitting next to me wants to live more than some idiot wants to die– just like me. The TSA won’t be on that plane so they really have no skin in it. Only you and I and our fellow passengers can stop the lone idiot. And I’ll place my trust there and only there.

  • KNM

    I’m all for these lawsuits. I couldn’t disagree more strongly with Tom after my experience Sunday at Denver Intl, traveling with my husband and 17 month old son. I wore NO metal (no underwire bra, elastic waistband pants with no metal adornments or zipper, and NO pockets), a nicely fitting cotton shirt, no jewelry, no watch. Packed everything according to their frigging 3 ounce rule in the quart size ziploc bag. Pulled out all my personal electronics and placed them methodically in the bins so they could be correclty screened. Put my frigging shoes in the bins. I was told I had to go through enhanced security even though I did not fail the metal detector – “random selection”. What kind of security is that, other than corrupt? I refuse to fly again after my pat down. I refuse to be screened by the full body scanner even though the TSA agents attempted to “re-educate” me that the images are not retained. I asked them, what happens if the system glitches and retains the photo? I told them I trust them as much as I trust the VA with retention of social security numbers after that breach! Absolute power absolutely corrupts. I’m against baseless lawsuits, but I think most of these are with merit Good grief, if I wanted a complete stranger to cop a feel in these areas, or wanted to star in a porno film, shouldn’t they be paying me, instead of having me fund (via the obscene income taxes I pay each year) my public humiliation and untoward groping based on no fault of my own other than trying to get home from my father-in-law’s funeral?

  • brillz08

    Trust me people need to fly and privacy is a right not a privilege I think you should you take the money that Chertoff has given you to promote these machines and shuv it.

  • brillz08

    The TSA is the problem because in countries were these terrorists live they don’t have such machines at the airports and not a single incident of a terrorist hijacking a plane.

  • DR

     It is people with your mentality that we should be afraid of, as Benjamin Franklin said: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”  I can’t believe you would allow people to be molested and assaulted for a false feeling of safety.  Your plane is more likely to crash because of pilot or mechanical error than from terrorists. 

  • Johnbrandt11

    UNFORTUNATELY they are not going away?? It’s a lousy American who will sacrifice liberty for security, as Ben Franklin said, those who are willing to do so deserver neither.

  • jim

    Wait until it is your 12yr old daughter having her vagina fondled or your wife . The people who support laws like these are people with difficulties putting themselves in the shoes of those being violated in the airports>You need to look at the specific cases where womens breast surgeries and other very personal matters are made public. Also , did you read about the tsa employee caught masturbating to the scanner screen?

  • Iamjhaskins

    No one needs to fly but under US Code 49 USC 40103 “sovereignty & use of airspace” “A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through navigable airspace.”

    Also as citizens we have the freedom of movement under US law per the constitution “privileges and immunities clause” “The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states” “The right of free ingress into other states and egress from them”

     ITS OUR RIGHT AS US CITIZENS! OH AND WE ARE PROTECTED AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCH AND SEIZURES BY FOURTH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.

    PLEASE PEOPLE STOP GIVING YOUR FREEDOM AWAY! HOLD ON TO YOUR RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES! BE A TRUE AMERICAN AND SPEAK OUT!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/IELJSYHI3H2I3HHXEPHKJ6EGGQ JoleenBa

     I don‘t know about the other suits

    The courts won’t change this; since the 68 election to now, Rs have held the WH 70% of the time and have appointed pr-authoritarian judges

    If the WH steps back on airport security, the Rs will scream soft-on-security

    So, politically, the only chance for easing airport security is action by Congressional Rs — and since they’re mainly authoritarian wackos, I don’t see them doing that

  • steve044

    You’re absolutely right! 
    I work in the Freight industry…  While at the airport delivering cargo for transport, a egotistical TSA
    official gave me a hard time, because I was doing my JOB and wouldn’t submit to
    his bullying and  intimidation, like everyone
    else there at the time…  He made a special
    effort to go to my job and got me fired! 
    Like you said, how does TSA interfering in the operation of American industry
    as well as harassing the public making a difference in the “Bullsh#t” war on
    terror?