Why tsa pat downs are unconstitutional

Murphy, J. May Accessed on April 1, Nixon, R. March The New York Times , page A Peterman, D. Elias and J. Frittelli Transportation Security: Issues for the th Congress. Pistole, J. Accessed on October 19, Regan, P. Ripberger, J. Sanquist, T. Mahy and F. Scavo, C. Kearney and R. Kilroy Jr. Schildkraut, D.

Schneider, S. Sedat, J. Shuman, D. Agard and R. Stroud Letter to John P. Silver, N. New York Times. November Sullivan, E. The Christian Science Monitor.

July 7. Transportation Security Administration. More Information: Advanced Imaging technology. Accessed on March 31, Van Alstyne, W. Your documents are now available to view.

I should not have to submit to a digital strip search or being groped by a glorified security guard," writes commenter vrwc1 in a typical post on cnet. For the courts, however, it is a matter of balancing personal privacy rights against public safety.

At the heart of the issue is consent, says Professor Schroeder. Have people consented to this search, simply by buying a ticket? Others, however, suggest that the searches overreach. The "costs" of the scans have been reported from every corner of the Internet. John Pistole , head of the TSA, told a Senate committee Tuesday that pat-down techniques are so thorough that they would have detected the explosives concealed in the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day last year.

Pistole, when asked by Sen. After acknowledging his own personal discomfort with the search, Pistole stood by the procedure as a screening technique. But the value of the full-body scans, which are used 50 times more often than the pat-downs, are less certain.

Italian security officials stopped using the scanners in September. British scientists found that the scanners picked up shrapnel and heavy wax and metal, but missed plastic, chemicals and liquids, reported UK newspaper The Independent in January. The TSA has relented in the face of some complaints. It announced Tuesday that it will no longer screen children under Already a subscriber?

Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. EPIC also charged that the chief privacy officer at the Department of Homeland Security failed to do her job when she allowed the body scanner program to go forward.

There was a lot of controversy when the department was established. Many members of Congress did not want to see the new agency become an unaccountable domestic police authority, wielding its powers against citizens. The proposal for a national identity card was rejected. A strong privacy office was created with clear legal responsibilities to "ensure that new technologies do not erode the privacy rights of Americans. When the Department of Homeland Security privacy officer signed off on the body scanner program, she didn't just fail to do her job.

She violated an act of Congress that was put in place so that the department could not subject Americans to outrageous invasions of personal privacy. A high-security facility, built on a distant island and designed to house the most dangerous criminals, is subject to the rule of law. Shouldn't American airports be as well?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Marc Rotenberg. Share this on:. This debate about the future of domestic security is also a debate about our nation's values. Part of complete coverage on. It's not all grab-and-scan at airports. From the volume of the public outcry, you might think air travelers were getting groped right and left. But less than 3 percent will receive pat-downs. Doctors question pat downs, scans. Airport security screening is raising an array of questions from health-care professionals.

Pat-down backlash grows. The backlash against passenger pat-downs is gaining steam, with a new viral video further fueling critics of screening procedures. Getting touchy-feely at the airport.