UPDATE: CBP Patrolling *Inside* Music Festival!

I posted earlier about TSA patrolling outside of Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival. DHS apparently doesn’t want to stop there: inside the festival, there were uniformed border patrol agents:

What could CBP possibly be lawfully doing in a music festival? Well, of course, I asked. The response was along the lines of: “We’re within 50 miles of the border, and can patrol anywhere we want to. We can enforce both state and federal laws.”

Absolutely astounding.

TSA VIPR Team Spotted at… Detroit Music Festival??

Pass the message on to the “If you don’t like the TSA, don’t fly!” crowd: the TSA is bent on expanding to all modes of transportation: subways, trains, buses, and even the open road. We’ve already seen them in a Texas bus system, Tennessee highways, Georgia Amtrak station (“accidentally” screening passengers who simply wanted to leave the station!), and Florida Greyhound stations.

You can add to this list the following terrorist-rich environment: Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival (“DEMF” or “Movement”). An electronic music producer myself (in between sessions of suing and embarassing the TSA, and my day job, I find a little time), I attend a large number of music events across the globe each year. So you can imagine my surprise when I was wandering from the festival to my car when I ran into a group of 5 men who looked like police officers, but one of whom was wearing a bulletproof vest with the large letters: TSA. Upon closer inspection, all of the men were DHS employees, and at least 2 were armed law enforcement officers (yes, the TSA has armed law enforcement officers — but don’t confuse these with the guys confiscating your toothpaste in airports, all of which are not actually law enforcement).

Naturally I had to see what was up. I approached them and asked if something was going on — if they were on some kind of joint mission with local law enforcement — and they gave me an ambiguous, “Well, maybe Detroit police are a little short-staffed.” When I followed up by asking them if they were a VIPR team, they perked up a bit, and were as shocked as I was to see them that a member of the public knew what they were up to. It turned out that, as best I could gather, this was just an ordinary patrol for them.

Granted, these men were entirely friendly and seemed to be wandering the path below the elevated train tracks near the festival, rather than stopping and searching anyone. But, the question is: do you want to be conditioned to accept armed TSA “police” roaming about your neighborhood? Do you approve of the TSA stopping people in bus and train stations and demanding to search their bags? Will you actually be surprised when a nude body scanner shows up at your local subway station?

So, “if you don’t like it,” the solution is clear: don’t leave your house. Or, you know, you could make your disapproval of TSA antics known now, before the TSA can expand in this absurd fashion and say, “Well you let us do it in the airports, so why can’t we do it in train stations?” “…at bus stops?” “…as you’re driving down the street?” “…whenever we want to.” If we don’t demand the Fourth Amendment in airports now, can you really, truly believe that I’m just talking hyperbole about what will happen next?

One more note: I’ve never seen a VIPR team in-person before this, and since I sued the TSA a year and a half ago, I’ve been to at least a dozen major cities in the US. Detroit is a pretty abandoned city these days, and it’s not a place I would expect federal resources to be spent on security. Unless, of course, they are profiling the large Muslim community that lives here.

TSA Nude Body Scanners & Groping to U.S. Supreme Court

What a busy week and it’s only Tuesday! On Monday, I attended the TSA’s Aviation Security Advisory Committee’s public meeting at TSA headquarters in Arlington, VA (TSA Administrator John Pistole in attendance, surely loving my attendance), and this morning I presented my assessment of several security flaws (including the one in my March video, How to Get ANYTHING Through TSA Nude Body Scanners) to several members of Congress. More on these in a later post.

After my presentation, I headed to the U.S. Supreme Court and filed my petition for certiorari, asking the highest court in the land to take my case and, eventually, rule that I have the right to a full trial to review my claims of unconstitutional searches by the TSA — a trial which so far has been denied to me and everyone else who has asked. It is troubling that I have to go to the highest court in the land in order to get something that so obviously is guaranteed to us by our Constitution, but I look forward to getting due process back on track.

The filing requirements of the Supreme Court are actually a bit absurd. First, all documents (relevant to my petition, anyway) had to be specially printed on 6.125″ x 9.25″ paper, bound in a booklet. The court specifies the exact font and size to be used, the margins, the exact line spacing, and even the thickness of the paper it must be printed on (and supposedly, they indeed measure!). Any documents attached (such as lower court decisions) must be re-typed by the filer, since every other court prints on 8.5″ x 11″ paper (and “shrinking” is expressly verboten!) Everything must be filed with 40 copies, so a 50 page petition is now 2,000 pages to print. Not exactly environmentally-friendly, nor the most accessible to the people.

Then, when you get to the court, you’re not actually allowed to bring the documents into the clerk’s office. This is apparently for security reasons, because you could hide weapons in between thousands of pages of paper, I gathered. Instead, all documents must be brought to a security guard outside the back of the building, who will — get this — hand you a garbage bag, ask you to insert your documents, and then leave the documents on the curb for security processing. Perhaps it’s time for the court to consider allowing e-filing like every other federal court does.

Petition for Cert At the Printers, OPEN CALL FOR AMICI CURIAE!

The final version of my petition is at the printers:

Corbett v. US – Petition for Certiorari – Final (.pdf)

If you’ve read the draft, there’s not much changed.

In the Supreme Court, a lot of weight is given to “amicus” briefs. These are briefs written by non-parties to the action to support a position. If anyone has connections to any kind of civil rights organizations that may be interested in writing on my behalf, please put them in contact with me: jon [at] fourtentech.com. If you need a brief “sales pitch:” My petition for cert to the US Supreme Court is on the issue of whether a citizen is entitled to a full trial when challenging the constitutionality of government actions. My case against TSA body scanners and groping was dismissed, and dismissal affirmed, on a law that exempts TSA “orders” from district court review.

Petition gets filed on Tuesday!

Petition for Certiorari Draft Completed — Thoughts?

After much research, writing, and compliance with some pretty crazy Supreme Court rules (for example, most documents have to be submitted on 6.125″ x 9.25″ paper), I’ve completed my petition for certiorari, pending any suggestions from YOU:

Corbett v. US – Petition for Certiorari – Public Draft (.pdf)

If you’d like to provide your feedback, please do so by the end of tomorrow before it goes off to the printers. You don’t need legal experience — the document’s sole purpose is to convince the court that my case is important enough for it to hear, rather than to persuade the court to find in my favor. Filing happens Tuesday.

Military Invades Miami for “Training Exercise”

From her third-floor balcony, Muir then watched the soldiers fire off flares and smoke bombs before searching floor by floor through the darkened hotel, their paths marked by flashlights and the pop-pop-pop of gunshots. “The show of force was so overwhelming,” she said.

The maneuvers were part of a “realistic urban training” exercise for about 100 military personnel, and organized by the U.S. Special Operations Command, said Maj. Michael Burns, a U.S. Army spokesman. The exercise also included three military helicopters, and the use of simulated explosions and gunfire to mimic real-life military scenarios.

…

Miami police assisted in overseeing the exercises — but they were instructed to keep quiet about the exercises until late Monday, for security reasons.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/08/2789687/military-training-in-the-middle.html

Dear Military: Stay the fuck out of my city. You have got to be kidding me: dropping from helicopters in the middle of the night while playing gun and bomb sounds without even the courtesy of notifying the residents of what you’re doing (For “security reasons?” Whose security?). This is the same style of assholery that we are seeing from all aspects of the government right now, and while I try to keep this blog non-partisan (as TSA abuse is not an issue that divides us), the blame for this goes straight up to the White House. This behavior is disrespectful to the American people, and we deserve an apology.

Jonathan Corbett to Present Nude Body Scanner Failures to Congress, File US Supreme Court Petition, on May 22nd

I’m excited to announce that I will be presenting my findings as seen in my How To Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners viral YouTube video to Congress on May 22nd, 2012, in conjunction with Freedom to Travel USA, a traveler’s rights advocacy group. Additionally, I will be filing my petition to the US Supreme Court on the same day, asking the court to review whether we have the right to a full trial in US District Court when we as private citizens challenge the constitutionality of government action.

Please help us by calling and e-mailing your representatives (please do both — e-mails are easily ignored!) and asking them to send staffers or come in person to our presentation. The event will be held in the Cannon House Office Building, Room 402, at 10:00 AM. FTTUSA has created a formal invite, and members of the general public may also attend, space permitting (RSVP at the e-mail on the invite).

We’re getting somewhere, guys!

–Jon