Case Dismissed, On to the 11th Circuit!

US District Judge Marcia G. Cooke today dismissed my case, saying that “without having been provided a copy of this unpublished statute or regulation [the SOP], I am unable to conduct any meaningful inquiry as to the finality of the Screening Checkpoint SOP” and “this argument would be better addressed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.”

As brief background for those of you at this blog for the first time, the government replied to my lawsuit against the airport nude body scanners and molestation procedures by saying that anything the TSA “orders” is not reviewable by US District Courts, and rather all cases must be filed in the Court of Appeals.  The reason the TSA wants this is because in the Court of Appeals, there is no jury, no discovery, and I don’t get to present evidence — essentially, the court would take the TSA’s word on issues of fact.

With no disrespect intended to the Hon. Judge Cooke, I find this to be a bit of a cop-out (essentially, “I couldn’t decide, so I’ll dismiss the case and let the higher court deal with it”),  though I am happy to appeal this dismissal to the 11th Circuit, and will do so as soon as possible.  Note that this is appealing the decision that there is no jurisdiction, not transferring the case to the 11th Circuit.

The appellate process is expensive (the filing fee is $450 alone!) — if you would like to donate to this cause, please feel free to send donations by PayPal to jon [at] fourtentech.com.

This fight is only beginning.

Corbett v. US – Dismissed (.pdf)

TSA Ignores Complaints During Pilot Program

In 2009, the TSA ran a pilot program for the nude body scanners in a handful of airports, and as a result of their “great success” decided to roll out the plan en masse. However, what didn’t come out until 2011 is that at least 100 people sent the TSA complaints about the intrusiveness of the new search regime during the 2009 pilot program. At the start of 2011, we now face about 100x as many body scanners as we did at the start of 2009. Openness and honesty are lacking, and it took a lawsuit by EPIC to reveal these complaints.

Please find the voices of the ignored below, with thanks to EPIC for providing to us…

EPIC v . DHS – Administrative Record – Complaints

Six Year Old Girl Molested by the TSA – Video

Videos like this simply shouldn’t exist.  It seems morally offensive to post them, but it is a greater moral offense to put them aside and let more children be touched like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtOMPbooFzU

[Edit: It appears the mother of the child has taken down the original video, but another person has put it online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3sH1GaO_nw ]

The poster of the video claims to be the child’s mother, who says she was threatened with jail if she did not allow the screeners to molest her child.  As you may know, the TSA has no power of arrest, and therefore making such a false claim would appear to be illegal coersion.  I’ve forwarded the video to the Louisiana State Police — cid_neworleans@dps.la.gov – and anxiously await a response.

This is what we’re fighting against.

[Edit 2 - Now featured on Drudge Report!  See below.]

Are We Doing All We Can?

No update on the lawsuit today, but a question for you all: Have you talked to *everyone* you possibly can about the problems relating to the TSA?  The courts may decide to halt the body scanners and molestation, eventually, but the fastest way is to have an angered population demand changes from our representatives.

We are the frequent flyers, the rights advocates, and the people who understand why what’s going on is a problem.  Not everyone does, and that’s holding us back.  Most Americans don’t fly often, and so they don’t really care, because they don’t understand what’s going on.  They don’t understand that when we say the pat-downs are molesting our families, we actually mean that the government is touching their genitals.  They don’t understand that a “body scanner” essentially creates a 3D, black & white image of your nude body.

But most importantly, they don’t understand that none of this actually makes us any safer.  A metal detector will alarm if I place a firearm in my ass, while neither a nude body scanner nor a pat down will help.  A metal detector will alert a sleeping TSO to a problem, where a nude body scanner will allow the TSO to continue his snooze.  …and neither a metal detector, nude body scanner, nor pat-down will solve the problems created by not scanning vendors, not scanning all checked luggage, and the gaping holes in the TSA’s hiring practices that allow criminals to run checkpoints (and touch your children).

Please take some time to educate your family, friends, and random strangers about what is going on here.  Devote a Facebook status to it, put up a flyer on your company’s poster board, and talk with your fellow passengers while waiting in the long security lines in the airports.  If you haven’t contacted your representatives yet, please do so, but contacting your personal network is just as important.

–Jon