Hey, America, good news! The TSA chief says he doesn’t want to strip search you in the airport this coming Christmas holiday traveling season. Lucky us, huh?
There are several lawsuits that have been filed against the TSA and their “enhanced sexual harassment” process in US airports. If you listen to the media “experts”, you will hear them say that these lawsuits have no real validity. They will tell you that attempts to make the TSA process a fourth amendment issue are ridiculous and “honestly a waste of time.”
Well, they’re wrong. Here’s why.
First, the fourth amendment, verbatim...
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
In a nutshell, you have the right to move about your life without harassment by the government. The fourth amendment restricts the governments power and protects the rights of the people. The question that lawyers and judges love to argue is, “what is an ‘unreasonable’ search?’” Well, in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967), the Supreme Court ruled that a search occurs only when:
- a person expects privacy in the thing searched and
- society believes that expectation is reasonable.
I don’t know about you, but I consider my “junk” to be fairly private and I believe that society would think that randomly searching said “junk” might be unreasonable.
It should be noted that any evidence discovered during an illegal or unwarranted search is not admissible in court. This means if the clumsy oafs in the TSA did actually manage to find a bomb or something in this process, it is possible, even probable, that said bomb could not be used in the trial of that individual. So the whole idea of protecting Americans and prosecuting terrorists is now in question because of the very methods of the TSA.
But that’s all the legal stuff. Let’s look at some other indications that the TSA is really off base on this issue.
One, there are better methods. They require security professionals, not apes with gloves, but they have been proven to be effective in many other countries including Israel who, in case you don’t recall, have been dealing with the whole Islamic terrorist thing a lot longer than we have.
Two, let’s take a quick step to the south of Brushfire Central and visit Arizona. You’re all familiar with the Arizona Immigration Statute, right? The one that says that an individual who is stopped by authorities because said authority has “probable cause” that a crime is being committed can be asked to provide an ID as evidence of residency. Obama’s administration opposes the Arizona law and current rulings, if left to stand, would prevent authorities from asking for ID even if evidence of a crime existed. So, buy an airline ticket, that’s probable cause for a search. Steal a car, kill a cop, there’s no need to perform a search and determine if you might have violated any other laws like the US immigration policy. Basically, if the TSA wins its case, Obama loses in Arizona. If Obama wins in Arizona, the TSA will have a tough row to hoe.
Next, can you say warrantless wiretap? I thought you could. The same people who believe that the TSA processes are acceptable were screaming that the Bush policy was?
DING DING DING - That’s right, a violation of the fourth amendment. Again, precedent is not necessarily on the side of the government here, not to mention common sense.
Finally, let’s talk security. Barry and his buds are saying that these TSA gropings are necessary to protect our country. Yet securing our southern borders is an affront to the millions of invaders already in the US. It’s a bit hypocritical to say that molesting a three-year-old girl in a public environment is needed to save American lives, but allowing drug kingpins free reign to cross our borders and kill Americans is all part of the American way. The policies established by the government regarding security overall set a precedent that clearly stands in contrast to their gestapo-like actions in the airports.
Conclusion, the TSA is wrong, their actions are to date fruitless. They have admitted that their processes would not have captured the “Underwear Bomber”. There are better methods than stealing our fourth amendment rights. If the government wants to protect Americans, perhaps they should secure the borders or allow Arizona to enforce federal immigration laws. It is unlikely that they will make our skies or this nation safer by taking naked photos of Fergie.
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