Even though I disagree with Alan that this isn't a court issue I do agree that the Roberts Court has given us little reason to expect any ruling supporting reinstatement of our eroding civil liberties. I'm not aware of any congressperson who actively campaigned on pushing back against the TSA's encroachment. And frankly, it might hurt a politician's funding levels or push the companies who manufacture and sell these scanners to fund the opponents of anyone who takes on the TSA's mandate. This is a runaway train that needs a serious wake-up call to be stopped. That's why people are looking to really shake things up this holiday season. People are slowly getting fed up with this mess and some of them are even ready to put their actions where their mouth is. The sheep are already being irradiated and groped, they're just pointing out to them how bizarre this security theater has finally become. If you don't like people sticking up for their own rights when nobody else will then don't fly.
I didn't say that this wasn't a court issue. Not once!
I said that this isn't a Constitutional issue. There may well be ways to challenge this in court, ways that might even see the TSA being forced to reverse things.
But the idea that this violates your 4th amendment rights to search & seizure is wrong. You made the choice to ride that plane. It is not your private property, nor is the airport. You brought the ticket voluntarily and as part of that contract to carry you to your destination you have agreed to what ever measures of security are deemed necessary.
If I owned my own plane and the TSA wanted to come onto my plane and perform such a pat down, then the 4th amendment would apply. They are on my property!
But the only ways to get this changed and it should be changed, are to find some other legal challenge or to put enough pressure on both Congress & the White House to make changes to the policies. But the 4th amendment is a legal dead end that will go no where. Like I said way back in the beginning, there are dozens of lawyers who would just love to be able to take on such a challenge. They aren't doing it because they know that they have no hope of winning and that most likely the case would be tossed out of a lower court long before the Supremes ever heard of it; much less consider hearing the case.
And I continue to believe that any protests on the day before Thanksgiving, especially in light of the fact that there is almost zero publicity about this is a mistake. The people who are going to be hurt the most by this protest are those trying to get home for some quality family time.
Something like this would be much better to do say during peak summer travel times. Yes, some people will have their vacation plans screwed up, but the impact on the innocent would be much less than it will be on Wednesday.