Well, I just skimmed the article and from the looks of it another government agency has decided to extend its powers into every aspect of our daily lives. It's at this point that I wonder, What happened to the Republicans of old? Really, the ones who argued for smaller government, less waste at the Bureaucratic Level, and the ones who felt that business should do what ever it wants. I see the ones who still LOVE big business, and at this time of year they serve things up with a big bow on top, but the same Republicans who argued for smaller government are actually the ones who created an entirely new agency! Figure that one out.
Since we now have to live with the Transportation Security Administration, the courts will pretty much not stand in the way of cursory searches at airports and subways (NYPD and the bag checks). Reading the article, the head of the federal Air Marshal Service describes them as being agents who secure all forms of transportation, thus no longer making them "Air" marshals but pretty much "Transport" Marshals. Just my two-cents on that.
Returning to the law of checkpoints, the cursory checks are pretty much legal, unlike a car stop (which requires the following of the "Bright Line" rule and other case law which dictates what areas an officer may search). At an airport, on an airplane, or on forms of public transit the public has the right to the utmost safety but they also have the right to expect some form of privacy. This is a fine line that one has to consider. After 9/11 privacy and security laws changed dramatically, under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, The TSA was formed and gained expanded powers to search, private airport screeners were fired, and the TSA took over at almost every airport in the United States. Since that time the TSA has started to expand their power into almost every major form of public transport in this country. It is that extension that poses a risk to our privacy.
One question that I just thought of is: What is the possibility that the TSA extends itself in to every facets of American Transportation, like Road travel? When I did research for the Article "Making the Roadblock a routine part of American Life," I was amazed at all of the distinctions that the Supreme Court made in determining the legality of Road Blocks. Matter of Public Safety, Reasonable suspicion, Information Checkpoints, "Suspicion-less checkpoints," and the delay that would occur if a check point was established and if the wait caused by a check point would be reasonable considering the flow of traffic in an urban environment. If this is the case then check points could be established for almost any "reasonable" situation.
Who knows what will happen, what the Courts will detrmine, and what Congress will do?
