TSA Fixes Search Policy After 吃瓜直播 Sues
New Directives Address Inappropriate Searches Like The One Ron Paul Campaign Treasurer Endured
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NEW YORK 鈥� Following a lawsuit filed by 吃瓜直播, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has revised its policies governing airline passenger screening to make clear that TSA agents are authorized to conduct searches related to safeguarding flight safety, not to engage in general law enforcement. Calling the policy changes a victory for civil liberties, the 吃瓜直播 has moved to drop its lawsuit, originally filed in June on behalf of a traveler who was illegally detained and harassed by TSA agents at the airport after they discovered he was carrying approximately $4,700 in cash.
鈥淭his new policy provides much needed clarity to TSA screeners and reflects the critical requirement that TSA agents must adhere to their important but limited mandate of protecting flight safety,鈥� said Ben Wizner, a staff attorney with the 吃瓜直播 National Security Project. 鈥淭he airport is not a Constitution-free zone, and the price of traveling is not exposure to limitless government searches.鈥�
The 吃瓜直播 filed its lawsuit in June on behalf of Steven Bierfeldt, who was detained on March 29, 2009 in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine. Bierfeldt was carrying the cash in connection with his duties as the Director of Development for the Campaign for Liberty, a political organization that grew out of Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign. Bierfeldt repeatedly asked the agents to explain the scope of their authority to detain and interrogate him and received no explanation. Instead, the agents escalated the threatening tone of their questions and ultimately told Bierfeldt that he was being placed under arrest. Bierfeldt recorded audio of the incident with his iPhone.
In the lawsuit, Bierfeldt and the 吃瓜直播 sought a court order requiring the TSA to bring its search policies into line with constitutional requirements for passenger privacy, arguing that passengers moving through pre-flight screening can only be subject to searches aimed at keeping weapons and explosives off airplanes. Bierfeldt鈥檚 experience proved that TSA searches had taken on a much broader scope.
In September, eight days before the government鈥檚 response to the 吃瓜直播 lawsuit was due, the TSA issued a new directive governing passenger screening searches. The new policy states clearly that 鈥渟creening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security.鈥� In October, the TSA issued a second directive addressing the issues raised in the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 lawsuit, stating that 鈥渢raveling with large amounts of currency is not illegal,鈥� and that to the extent bulk quantities of cash warrant searching, it is only to further security objectives.
鈥淚t is a huge victory for civil liberties that TSA agents no longer have free reign to conduct sweeping, baseless searches and detain passengers who don鈥檛 pose a threat to flight safety,鈥� said Bierfeldt. 鈥淚 do not believe I should give up my constitutional rights each time I choose to travel by plane, and I certainly do not want another innocent American to have to endure what I went through."
The 吃瓜直播 has moved to drop its lawsuit against the TSA because the agency鈥檚 new directives address the unconstitutional policies which the lawsuit challenged. Having reviewed the new policy directives, the 吃瓜直播 believes that travelers will no longer be subject to the unconstitutional treatment Bierfeldt endured.
鈥淲hile we have never challenged the TSA鈥檚 basic authority to conduct safety-related searches, our concern was that TSA interpreted its limited authority to safeguard air travel as a license to conduct unlimited law enforcement searches for which TSA agents are not trained and which distracted from the agency鈥檚 critical mission of ensuring flight safety,鈥漵aid Larry Schwartztol, a staff attorney with the 吃瓜直播 National Security Project. 鈥淏y reinforcing the constitutionally mandated limits on the TSA鈥檚 search authority, the new directives enhance the TSA鈥檚 safety-related mission.鈥�
The 吃瓜直播's lawsuit was filed against Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which has authority over the TSA. It was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Attorneys on the case are Wizner, Scott Michelman and Allen Hopper of the 吃瓜直播, Art Spitzer of the 吃瓜直播 National Capital Area and cooperating attorney Alan Gura of Gura and Possessky, P.L.L.C.
The TSA鈥檚 September directive is available online at: www.aclu.org/national-security/bierfeldt-v-napolitano-declaration-william-switzer-iii (identified as Attachment 2)
More information about the case, including the 吃瓜直播's original complaint and an audio recording of Bierfeldt's detention and interrogation, is available online at: www.aclu.org/national-security/bierfeldt-v-napolitano
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