Originally Posted by NY-FLA

Your logic about gaming the system, lines up directly, IIRC, with the 9th circuit logic. What I may never understand is where this concern came from. Does "game the system", mean, enter into the "system" to get intel about it, without going all the way through? Why would any self-respecting bad guy want only partial data?
If the bad guys wanted to learn the "system", such as it is, then they would be further ahead to buy a fully refundable ticket, print out dozens of BP's and transit the "system" completely as often as need be to learn as much as they needed to know. If you're going to wrap a block of cheese in wires, you'll likely create the same check-point response, ie get the same info, whether you try to leave the screening part way through or have the TSO's determine it's a harmless block of cheese wrapped in wires, and let you go on your way.
And if someone decides to leave a screening part way through, which TSO has authority to detain them?
The posted logic seems to me to be just a red herring to assist turning administrative searches into fishing expeditions under color of a court ruling.