TSA Responds To Texas: Resistance is Futile

Agency perverts meaning of Constitutional protections in response to state’s new law against federal groping

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
May 17, 2011
The TSA has issued a laughable response to the news that the state of Texas has passed a bill to officially make it a misdemeanor to pat-down breasts, buttocks, or genitals.
The Agency contends, via its blog, that Texas cannot do anything to restrict TSA procedures because, as a federal agency it is protected under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“Blogger Bob”, the TSA’s propaganda mouthpiece, writes:

“What’s our take on the Texas House of Representatives voting to ban the current TSA pat-down? Well, the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article. VI. Clause 2) prevents states from regulating the federal government.”

How ridiculous it is for the TSA to cite the Constitution in its own defense! While citing one section, it is completely ignoring two others – namely the Fourth and Tenth Amendments.
The Fourth Amendment protects “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches” without “probable cause”.
As far as we can recollect, no where in the Constitution does it say that the federal government has the right to touch Americans’ private parts in the first instance.
Therefore, under the Tenth, States have the right to pass their own laws against this abuse of power, because:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The TSA’s contention that the Supremacy Clause bars states from regulating the federal government is a total lie. The Supremacy Clause states:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

In other words, The constitution is the supreme law and any federal laws made in line with the constitution are supreme. No where does it say that states cannot regulate federal government.
But why would we expect the TSA to understand the Constitution when it violates it every hour of every day?
The Supremacy Clause, as with every other part of the Constitution, is there to protect against potential federal government abuses of power, not to effectively enable them as the TSA claims. The Constitution protects the rights of the people, not the rights of the federal government.
In addition, there is no enumerated power in the Constitution that gives the federal government the authority to regulate local airports. Under the Tenth Amendment, airport operation falls under state jurisdiction.
The TSA’s version of the US Constitution, like much of the federal government’s, is a complete perversion of it’s actual meaning.
The TSA blog goes on to state:

“We wish we lived in a world where you could just walk on a plane with no security screening, but that just isn’t the case unfortunately. Aviation security agencies worldwide have been using pat-downs long before TSA was created to prevent dangerous items from getting onto airplanes. The pat-down is a highly effective tool to resolve certain alarms and keep these dangerous items off of planes that could cause catastrophic damage.”

Again, this is a pathetic attempt at justification of full on government groping. To claim that “Other countries did it first” is just plain weak. Other countries do not have a written constitution safeguarding the privacy rights of their citizens. And besides, specifically, what other countries governments are putting their hands inside people’s pants and literally touching their genitals?
The Texas House of Representatives passed the legislation on Friday to prohibit “intrusive touching” when people are seeking access to public buildings and forms of transportation.
The bill, sponsored by Republican House member David Simpson, outlaws public servants from “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly touching anyone’s anus, sexual organ, buttocks or breasts, including touching through clothing, and any manner of touching that would be offensive to a reasonable person.”
Should the bill also pass the Senate and be signed into law, convicted TSA agents could face a $4,000 fine and up to one year in jail.
Representative Simpson appeared on the Alex Jones Show Friday to discuss the bill:

Texas, and in particular Austin, has been at the forefront of the revolt against the TSA since it began increasing its presence in airports some eighteen months ago. In December, Austin’s Airport Advisory Commission approved a resolution advising the city council to oppose airport body scanners and invasive body searches.
The TSA has signaled its intention to install the scanners at Austin, but the date has continually been put back, with the agency saying it could now be as late as 2012 before the devices are activated.
Meanwhile, in related news, the revolt against the TSA continues as a House Appropriations Subcommittee last week stripped $76 million out of the TSA budget for 2012. The funds had been designated for the purchase of 275 more naked body scanners. Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said that the body scanners are “a nuisance. They’re slow. And they’re ineffective.”