Why the fight against nude body scanners matters, TSA claims its rules can't be challenged after 30 days
Congress new law: TSA can create new policies that can't be challenged after 30 days, ever!
From TSA Out Of My Pants:
"A matter of days after the TSA announced that its nude body scanners would be deployed as primary screening across the nation, I filed the first court challenge of the constitutionality of requiring Americans to walk through devices that visualize their nude body as a condition of flying. Since November 16th, 2010, I have vigorously and consistently maintained this objection to our government’s foolish behavior, as my case was bounced from court to court while we argued over which court should actually hear the case: the TSA argued that it should be in a court that had no discovery, witness stand, or even real trial (the U.S. Court of Appeals), while I argued that the constitution requires that my grievance be heard in a court that can offer meaningful review (such as the U.S. District Courts). It’s no surprise that by mid-2012, the lower courts decided that the court without discovery, witnesses, and trials should hear the case, due process be damned, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the issue.
With that matter settled, I continued my case in the court that they told me to file in, but now the TSA had a new objection to my case: that it’s too late now. You see, Congress wrote a law that says “orders” of the TSA must be challenged within 30 days, and the government interpreted this to mean that: 1) even if they keep doing the objectionable behavior (i.e. scanning and groping) daily, after they’ve done it for 30 days, it can never be challenged by anyone, and 2) the 30 days shouldn’t be from when I started my case, but from when I proceeded in the court that they preferred. I asked the court to refuse to adopt this absurd proposition and allow me an opportunity to gather and examine facts before the court.
In a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled last Friday that the government’s “30 days, forever immunized” theory is exactly right: the government, without violating your Constitutional right to redress, can create a law that says “once we do it for 30 days, it’s permanent, and we can keep doing it for the rest of eternity and you can’t take us to court!” They also went further and ruled that “even if Corbett had timely filed his petition,” the TSA’s nude body scanners and checkpoint molestations are constitutional — before they ever gave me a chance to ask the TSA for documents or meaningfully question their asserted facts.
In her dissent, U.S. Circuit Judge Beverly B. Martin blasts the majority for issuing the “unnecessary holding” that the TSA’s actions were constitutional, stating that there was no reason for the court to go there at this point since the majority decided it was too late to hear. She continues that “Mr. Corbett’s pursuit appears to me to have been methodical and diligent” and that she disagrees with the court’s decision to “penalize” me for the switch of courts in 2012."
As if that isn't bad enough, states are implementing nude body scanners in jails.
This is the disturbing future of police state Amerika. it begins with the TSA/DHS forcing Americans to give up our rights in the name of safety, then it creeps into jails & courts and before you can blink an eye its in sporting venues, public transportation and finally retail stores.
Salt Lake City jail scanners will eliminate most strip searches:
The SecurPASS scanners produce a detailed image of lungs, bones and body cavities — but not facial features or private parts. The image also shows narcotics, weapons, sharp objects and other contraband inside clothing or body cavities.
Under legal standards, people being booked into jail cannot be subjected to a strip search unless there is a reasonable suspicion that they have contraband, Winder said. About 10 percent of the 120 people processed a day are strip searched.
Now everyone being booked, as well as the several hundred inmates being taken to and from the jail each day to court hearings or other appointments, will be scanned, a process that takes eight seconds. Strip searches will be very rare and used only with pregnant women and people with pacemakers who need to be checked for contraband, Winder said.
“Eight seconds will not add significant time at all to our processing,” the sheriff said, adding that the new process will be less intrusive to the inmates.
The two machines cost just under $300,000 and were bought with money from the jail’s inmate services fund, which contains the profits from prisoner purchases at the commissary.
Winder said his office has worked with state agencies to ensure the system meets all health regulations. One chest X-ray is the equivalent to 400 SecurPASS scans, and under federal regulations, an individual can have 4,000 of the scans in one year, according to Virtual Imaging Inc., the system’s manufacturer. The Florida-based company is a division of Canon U.S.A.
Is it any surprise that Canon a notorious TERROR/ HOMELAND profiteer is behind body scanners? It appears their company motto is civil rights be damned, we're profiting handsomely.
Canon makes license plate readers, red-light cameras and biometric cameras, to name a few.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58450516-78/contraband-jail-winder-scanners.html.csp
In Ohio a jail is not using its SecurPass scanner:
The SecurPass machine – which cost $243,000 – is no longer being used because the Ohio Department of Health’s rules don’t permit it.
Sheriff Jim Neil called the rules antiquated; the state says it must approve it before it can be used because the machine uses radiation, which can be dangerous after repeated exposure.
“This is a safety and security issue for our employees, for the inmates, for everyone,” Neil said. “I’m going to use every resource available to ensure we know what is coming into our jail.”
He cited company data showing the equipment is not dangerous because it uses less radiation than an X-ray.
Department of Health spokeswoman Tessie Pollock said the state agency is willing to look at updating rules, but it still must regulate any machine that uses radiation.
Police are already using portable x-ray scanners to spy on your car:
Click here & here to read more about the Z-Backscatter vans.