Originally Posted by
clrankin
Passengers have this authority too, I suppose, under the First Amendment. As a matter of fact, I think when I fly out of BNA this afternoon I just might use this authority to ask the screeners if they are also dirty enough to be infected with scabies, like their brethren at BOS.
Oh please, would you? When you get done come back and tell us all about it. THAT should be the highlight of my day.
Yes, but he probably didn't feel like letting TSA violate his privacy by rolling over and playing dead when it came to his fourth amendment rights.
And he still had the option to chose a different way to deal with the issue that would not have forced a confrontation. BTW, if you are going to try and use the “rights” thing, you might want to add in 5th amendment as well. Gives it flavor.
Yes, but we all know that when you refuse to answer a TSO's questions they get all whiny and immature. Most TSA folks I've met can't stand it when reality contradicts their image of themselves as America's protector or front-line defense in the "war on terror". Refuse to answer a question, and they'll go running to an LEO, crying about they've just caught the next Timothy McVeigh.
If they chose to request a LEO, well then that is their job now isn’t it. You can chose to take it anyway you like, call it what you like, but it is still a part of the job. I am fairly sure that they will be a bit more mature about it than you would.
This is where I think that many will still disagree with you. As an individual citizen, yes, we all have the right to ask questions of each other. But your (and any TSO's) role and freedoms as a private citizen stops the moment you put your bellhop uniform and Junior Detective badge on. You then become an agent of the government and any actions you take are acting on the government's behalf.
And in the furtherance of the duties I am sworn to perform, I can ask those questions. As a citizen, you can refuse to answer the. More power to you. Have a good time. Can we prevent you from boarding an aircraft because you refuse to answer a question? Depends on the question, and what its about. Ya rolls the dice and ya takes your chances.
This is where a number of restrictions do come in to play... this is why TSOs do not have the ability to detain people. (Doing so as an agent of the government without probable cause-- which TSOs are not trained to detect-- is a flagrant civil
rights violation.)
I’ll let the legal minds here look that one over, but I suspect that you are missing a few salient points in your argument. Important ones.
I know you've asserted otherwise elsewhere on the forum, but I think that most attorneys would tell you that you're dead wrong. When acting as an agent of the government, there are certain things you can and can't do.
This much I know, and it is usually limited by the position one has and not by the general fact of government employment.
Now, have you gotten all that pent up hostility out yet? After all that name calling I should hope so. If not then we can continue, I at the very least can be civil when I chose to, and am more than willing to let you rant until your fingers fall off.