No one is supporting the TSA. I think people in opposition to the OP are against his ridiculous behavior. He behaved like a child.

My name is Mittington Romney III but I got by Mohhamed.

It's against FT TOS to post full names of staffers.
In the UK, which is a common law jurisdiction, theft requires intention to permanently deprive.

+1, should have stopped and asked for a supervisor or whatever and filed an official/formal complaint immediately. Arguing with front line people is pointless.

The TSA checkpoint is not an "inconvenience." It is a place where the government has subjected innocent people to radiation, has created images of innocent people's naked bodies, has groped innocent peoples' genitals, has seized all manner of personal possessions that are not tools of terrorism, has separated children from parents, has revealed travelers' private medical conditions, has broken medical devices, and has generally shamed people who have no connection to terrorism or intent to harm other travelers. All of this has been done at taxpayer expense, without warrants, with screening techniques that are more than minimally invasive (which violates the definition of an administrative search), without prior public input, and with considerable profits accrued by well-positioned security industry vendors.

Your claims (in the post to which I was replying) rest on assumptions that have been challenged and put into doubt the merits of your defense of the TSA on this matter.

Who claimed your passport isn't?

Expired and/or cancelled passports may not be, even as they are rather routinely accepted by the TSA when the expiration date is within a year of the printed expiration date. Not limited to US passports.

On the contrary. If people don't argue with the passenger-facing screener, TSA management just hides behind the excuse that passengers should have said something at the time of the incident and/or escalated (read: argued) with TSA superiors at the airport.

I had to do just that because the TSA was harassing U12 minors (and their companions) for ID and demanding passports when not required.

Interesting thread, ive never been asked for my name... I'm in the same boat as others here that I think it's pointless to ask, but I'd probably tell them to avoid more hassle than... Unless I was rudely asked of course.

What a maroon. :td:

You should have been cited for misuse of 911.

I've been asked my name and pointed out to the TSA clerk that it was clearly printed on both the ID and boarding pass. The clerk (at DFW) became so angry that I believed he was about to strike me. Complaints to DFW's FSD fell on deaf ears.

TSA is allowed to conduct a limited administrative search for Weapons, Explosives, and Incendiaries. That's it, nothing more. I refuse to cooperate with illegal screening methods.

Actually, no, you don't.

No, but the government doesn't have the power to arbitrarily interfere with your ability to travel by plane.

They are not agents of the airline, and your contractual right to travel with any airline are governed by the Conditions of Carriage. TSOs are "agents" of the government, in the same sense that postal clerks are agents of the government, i.e. they are state actors from the standpoint constitutional limitations on the government's powers. They are not "officers," have no police powers, and cannot confiscate anything, including passports, driver's licenses and boarding passes.

Who is "they"? TSOs? Of course not. Nor do they have any authority to stop you from flying. Their sole task is to prevent the entry of WEI into the sterile area. You can breeze right past a TSO and they can't do a thing to stop you, other than call over a LEO who, in turn, has the power of detention and arrest.

You can stand by whatever you want. Air travel is clearly restricted by TSA policies. The question is whether those policies are constitutional. The courts have affirmed requiring submission to a limited administrative search for the purpose of ensuring that WEIs don't get into the sterile area. The courts have not affirmed interrogations of any kind and, indeed, I doubt that they would.

He had every right to not say another word, pass through security (submitting to the limited administrative search) and then board his flight.

Yes, so?

"Absconding" is a colloquial term and not a legal one. "Theft" means taking someone's property with an intent to permanently deprive. In the OP's case, it may or may not have been theft, as we don't know enough about the TSO's intent, but it was certainly the tort of "conversion."

And your post is an example of someone who wants to play internet lawyer. This is never a wise idea, particularly on FT were many posters ARE lawyers.

It's actually an apt comparison, as violation of the restrictions placed on government power by state actors is, by definition, tyranny. Your concern may be a matter of degree, but there's not much difference in terms of rights violations.

I regard TSOs as state actors and nothing more. I agree that treating people badly is a sign of poor character. Refusing to submit to constitutional violations is not, however, treating people badly.

The cashier in Burger King is not a state actor. Civil disobedience in the face of authority is a long-honored tradition in the U.S. Just ask Dr. Martin Luther King.

And I'm sure the basis for your doubts is the same as the basis for your understanding of constitutional law.

+1 to the OP.

While I never called the COPS, at IAH, I responded more than once to their name question with I'm exercising my 5th amendment rights and I refusing to answer their questions. Every single time they have called a "suit" down at which time I have always exercised my 5th amendment rights and said that I'm am waiting to be screened. The first two times I exercised my rights it turned into a 20 minute ordeal, because I continued to maintained my 5th while asking saying that I was waiting to be screened. The 3rd time (which was about a week or so after the prior incident), the same "suit" came down and as soon as he saw it was me, he said (loud enough so I can hear it), "just let the refusenik thru, I went thru this with him last week and he knows his rights, however if he interferes call me and the PD." To which I smiled and wished both of them to have a blessed day.

I also exercised my 5th at ORD one time when the gestapo er TSA, wanted to see into one of my bag after it went thru the Xray. the TSO asked me if there was anything sharp in the bag that would hurt her to which I exercised the 5th. The TSO said, "Sir the 5th amendment doesn't apply to the TSA" however I continued to exercise my rights. Long story short, I continued to exercise my rights, until the CPD came and told me to tell him the story and to stop being difficult with the TSA, while also demanding my ID (and unfortunately in IL the PD can legally demand your ID). Because i had a lot of time to kill, I decided to give him my Arizona concealed weapons ID rather than my DL. the LEO "ran me" to make sure I didn't have a warrant and then gave me back my ID.

After the COP looked at the ID and realized what it was and that I didn't have any wants or warrants; he asked me for permission to go thru both of my bags. At which time I exercised my 4th, 5th and 6th amendment rights with him and told him that I do not consent and that he needed a warrant or probable cause, but I wasn't going to give permission (to him).

The TSA "suit" thought he had me because he then told me they needed to re screen my 1 bag otherwise I wouldn't be able to travel, to which I made them do it in private without saying a word since I knew they would have to look into the bag and since I knew there was no contraband.

After going thru the bag very thoroughly all they found were the 8 packages of Vienna beef hot dogs that I was bringing home along with a dirty pair of underwear.

A bit off topic but I also am a proud "refusenik" every time I get stopped in southern AZ somewhat near the border by border patrol doing their "immigration" checks. While all they initially ask for is if you are a citizen, I still refuse to answer and ask if I'm being detained or if I'm free to go since the BP don't legally have the right to search you at will inside the country (unlike if you're crossing the international border). Normally it takes a few minutes of banter and me refusing to answer nor fulling over to secondary while asking for their probable cause, since we do not need "papers or permission" to travel from state to state, especially if you are not crossing a border.

validly issue government issued photo ID is very important and very valuable. a passport in particular and to be honest, I do not trust TSA staff.

[i mean probably more valuable than a bloody tablet that if they stole it, many would call the cops and think nothing about calling it theft.]

That is in large part part of the reason why I don't show my passports to the TSA even when some TSA employees demand them. I'm usually only 30 minutes to 72 hours from an international trip and losing a passport with visas is a risk I'd rather reduce. The TSA can look at my Global Entry card or other State Department-issued ID but not my passport and preferably not my driving license either.