No matter how dumb the new TSA policy is, no one has a “right” to board a flight, and refusing the TSA procedure can result in you not boarding a flight. But, when it comes to re-entry, especially if you’ve done everything customs asked, you have the right to enter your own country. Its probably the most basic and fundamental right of citizenship (as a comment above nicely points out). I don’t think the TSA has a legal leg to stand on regarding forcing this procedure on people who simply want to re-enter their own country. Re-entry and boarding a flight are two different things.

The problem is one of airport design. There are two groups of people, those boarding connecting flights, and those re-entering their own country. Their legal rights are different with regard to this TSA procedure, but due to airport design they must go through the same procedure. Its one procedure for two different events. This procedure has a decent legal standing (thus far) for one event, but not for the other.

The outcome of this episode has no relevance with regard to having to go through the TSA procedure to board a plane.

As for people complaining that he was whining or being a douche, sometimes thats what you have to do to make sure your rights are not being violated. And ultimately, standing up for your rights is a worthwhile cause, not just for him, but for everyone who wants to hold on to that right. A right not exercised is a right you’ll eventually lose, and in his case, he’s talking about one of the most fundamental and basic rights of citizenship (ie, being able to re-enter your own country). Thats one worth fighting for!

In a way there are only 2 ways to proceed. Either get our legislators to do something about it by changing laws, or push the system, take cases to court and have the courts show that in some way (constitutionally) this is already illegal. The hero here is doing the later and I applaud him for it. I’ll do the same if confronted with such a situation and I think everyone else should too, until this does go to court or the government (TSA) comes to their senses.

http://twitpic.com/39hf6v

As you can see, you first have to claim your luggage before going through customs and security. So in between that time you could theoretically get something from your checked luggage that is allowed there, but not in carry-on (like a knife).

Because most airports don’t have a separate workflow for passengers staying there versus headed to a connecting flight, everyone gets funneled into F which is the secure area of the airport, and the place where it is assumed everyone is already security cleared. If you weren’t checked after coming back, you could grab a knife out of your bag, head to the secure area, and hand it to someone who has already been screened.

In this case, they escorted the gentleman through F to G which is the unsecured portion, since he didn’t have a connecting flight. Until people can go from C straight to G (which some airports do support) there isn’t a whole lot they can do.

That’s why I felt this was a reasonable thing they did. They escorted him through F (the secure area) to make sure he didn’t give anything to a security cleared passenger. His standpoint is that his rights shouldn’t be trampled solely because of poor design of the airport, and I think it’s a reasonable one.

“–I said no such thing. You’re putting words in my mouth.”

Putting “balls” in his mouth?

I do agree that a lot of the outrage over junk-touching is going into some juvenile and homophobic territory with some people, but there are enough alarming stories out there–the guy with the bladder condition, the woman with the artificial leg–that show that some TSA screeners are humiliating people, intentionally or not.

Please join us in protesting the TSA and making our voices heard.
We will be protesting on November 24th as part of the National Opt Out Day (more info at http://www.wewontfly.com)
We will also be protesting on December 1st as part of the Shut Down the Airports protest (more info at http://www.shutdowntheairports.com)

And let’s keep the kneejerk quotient down a bit. You’ll have a good hike ahead of you if you want to find somebody who’s warier than me of the Tea Party, but take it from a Democrat: the government spends too much money and it’s too intrusive. The Tea Party is right about that.

There. I’ve said it.

[boogle]

With the exception of Federal Air Marshals, TSA staff do not have the authority to detain people, much less to arrest them. They are airport clerks, security guards, and bag checkers. Much as they would like us to think so with their police-style shirts and badges, they are not law enforcement.

Best I can tell from his blog post and audio recordings, Matt Kernan did not disobey anyone during this incident. He was not required to submit to the strip search or frisk, and he chose not to do so.