DHS: We Have the Authority to Routinely Strip-Search Air Travelers

[cali]

The Department of Homeland Security told a federal court that the agency believes it has the legal authority to strip search every air traveler. The agency made the claim at oral argument in EPIC's lawsuit to suspend the airport body scanner program. The agency also stated that it believed a mandatory strip search rule could be instituted without any public comment or rulemaking. EPIC President Marc Rotenberg urged the Washington, DC appeals court to suspend the body scanner program, noting that the devices are "uniquely intrusive" and ineffective. EPIC's opening brief in the case states that the Department of Homeland Security "has initiated the most sweeping, the most invasive, and the most unaccountable suspicionless search of American travelers in history," and that such a change in policy demands that the TSA conduct a notice-and-comment rule making process. The case is EPIC v. DHS, No. 10-1157. For more information, see EPIC: EPIC v. DHS and EPIC: Whole Body Imaging Technology.

http://epic.org/

[snappyturtle]

1. OMG! What is the country turning into? DHS is one scary group but that's

probably their purpose: to put the fear of God into people.

[krabigirl]

2. It is becoming a nightmare for sure.

[Golden Raisin]

5. Arbeit Macht Frei!

[ixion]

3. The TSA and DHS are distinctly un-American, and should be disbanded

immediately.

[Earth_First]

9. Yep. Where is my Democratic leadership on this one...?

:shrug:

[AlabamaLibrul]

4. Those who were out in front of this were called tinfoil hatters n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Yes, we were.

[truebrit71]

12. ..or morons if we thought it smacked of creeping fascism...

...Have these people never heard of the 4th amendment? This shit has to stop...When someone as batshit crazy as Ann Coulter thinks it's too much, by definition, it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much...

[Scuba]

6. It's actually much worse than that...

[seabeyond]

7. yup. nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Where is the ruler?

[Angry Dragon]

10. Welcome to the new and improved POLICE STATE

[truebrit71]

13. Obviously not familiar with the Constituion or it's 4th amendment...

How's that "change" working out for you?