New law barring non-citizens as airport screeners found unconstitutional

AP ^ | 11/15/02 | Gary Gentile

[Rome2000]

Nation: New law barring non-citizens as airport screeners found unconstitutional

Copyright © 2002 AP Online
By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer   AP Photo/Lucian Read Mark Rosenbaum, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, talks with reporters after a federal judge temporarily blocked a rule saying the government's new airport security screeners must be U.S. citizens, outside the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 15, 2002. LOS ANGELES (November 15, 2002 7:54 p.m. EST) - A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked a rule saying the government's new airport security screeners must be U.S. citizens. The portion of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act barring non-citizens from the positions is unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi ruled. Takasugi's preliminary injunction will remain in place until trial in a civil rights lawsuit brought by nine plaintiffs at Los Angeles and San Francisco International Airports. No trial date has been set. The ruling will affect as many as 8,000 airport screeners, most of whom already have lost their jobs, said Ben Wizner, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which brought the case. Plaintiffs lawyers said the ruling will apply to airports nationwide and will allow the non-citizen workers to reapply for jobs that became federal positions following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. U.S. Justice Department lawyer Elizabeth Shapiro declined to comment on the ruling. She said it was not clear that the injunction would apply nationwide. Mark Rosenbaum, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, compared the government's attempt to fire non-citizens from screening jobs to the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans. "You're classifying a group of non-citizens as inherently dangerous," he said. A Nov. 19 deadline had been set for airports to remove all non-citizens from screening jobs. Rosenbaum noted that the ban did not apply to other airport workers. "From the pilots to the cargo handlers to people who work in the gift shop, there's no citizenship requirement," he said. Congress passed a law last November to federalize all airport screeners. ACLU lawyers also said they hoped the judge's decision would convince Congress to pass an amendment before the Senate that would allow U.S. nationals to hold airport security screening jobs. One of the plaintiffs is from American Samoa, who had been barred from applying as a baggage screener.

[Criminal Number 18F]

I wrote:

is a legislative way around this

...yet it appeared on FR as:

is a le!5{nd this

I'm not generally in the habit of posting incoherently. Bump to John for a possible systems problem. More likely the system did as well as it could with noise on the line...

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[ppaul]

right, and some of them are members of the ACLU

Some?

[Gracey]

First the Demoncrats force the President to make the airport security screeners FEDERAL Employees. Well, the law is that you have to be a CITIZEN to work for our FEDERAL Government.

Now they want to change that law??? They care NOTHING about laws.

[pabianice]

"The ACLU -- giving aid and comfort to America's enemies for 100 years."

[browardchad]

They are legal residents with green cards, but they are not citizens.

I wouldn't assume too much -- let's just leave it at "they have green cards," and depending on the authenticity of the cards, and the method used to obtain the cards, they may or may not be here legally.

Newark Airport Employed 21 With Fake ID's, Officials Say (11/14/02)

[Barnacle]

Appeal!

[TheLion]

Geez, these commies are sick. Can Bush do this by executive order? Also, maybe arrest the judge critter for treason...that would be a good start.

[Lockbox]

Admiral Josh Painter: This business will get out of control! It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it!

[TheDon]

The article does not say. It would seem the judge only temporarily blocked the rule, until the trial. The outcome of the trial being the deciding factor of whether or not it is unConstitutional.

Of course, if the Constitution can be construed to say an unborn child may be legally killed, it can be construed to say anything.

[Minutemen]

Yup... this judge Takasugi is one first class *SS, and a traitor to boot. I recall his name from years back, I didn't know he was still alive. Why is it that the GOOD always die young??

[Ohioan]

Once again, the ACLU seeks to undermine America and the Americans. Once again, this Fabian Socialist organization, shows its true colors--its total opposition to the America of the Founders, even as it seeks to cloak itself in the costume of a defender of Liberty. (For more on the background of the ACLU, see Leftwing Word Games & Religious Freedom.)

I believe that it was George Washington who said before a major battle, during the Revolution, "Let none but Americans stand guard tonight." There is nothing in our written Constitution, today, which makes that statement unConstitutional or inappropriate.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[savedbygrace]

Of course, if the Constitution can be construed to say an unborn child may be legally killed, it can be construed to say anything.

I'm fresh out of arguments to dispute this. SIGH.

[Rockitz]

The ACLU will soon be coming after defense contractors and make them hire non-citizens too! We need a website that exposes the ACLU for the communists that they are.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Madness. Sheer madness.

"Thank you for flying United Airlines. Your baggage screener will be Achmed Abdul-bin Abdullah."

[Tom Jefferson]

"I wouldn't assume too much -- let's just leave it at "they have green cards," and depending on the authenticity of the cards, and the method used to obtain the cards, they may or may not be here legally."

A point well taken. You are right.

[SteveAustin]

This judges decision is ridiculous, and if the Democrats side with this stuff, the GOP will get their 60 vote majority in the Senate in 2004.

As an aside, I travel a lot, and love the new TSA screeners at the airport. These people are generally smart, well-trained and very courteous. The difference between the new TSA screeners and the old ones is night and day.

Paying a higher salary, requiring US citizenship, and some level of competency has made a world of difference. Hopefully it will also help with enforcement.

This is one rare case where the private sector had failed. The TSA screeners may turn into a giant bureacracy, but so far so good in my opinion.

[FreeReign]

In general, the Supreme Court has protected the right of aliens to public education, public welfare, right to earn a livelihood, to engage in licensed profession, to own property, to the equal protection of the law and to due process of law.

Where in the BOR is it defined that any person has an unalienable right to public welfare, public education and a right to be employed by an employer -- that doesn't want them.

The 14th -- "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -- does not apply here. It's an ACLU interpretation.

[anniegetyourgun]

Both of these rulings will not be able to survive the distance to the next court.