TX to TSA: Hands Off My “Anus, Sexual Organ, Buttocks, or Breast”

posted at 1:48 pm on May 13, 2011 by

You can’t get any more explicit than the language in a bill passed by the Texas House of Representatives late Thursday that spells out how far the Transportation and Security Administration can—and can’t—go in its airport security pat-downs.

The measure makes it a criminal offense for any public servant to conduct a search in which “the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person” are touched, including through clothing. The bill also wades into Fourth Amendment territory by prohibiting searches “that would be offensive to a reasonable person.” The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The Texas bill’s chief sponsor, Republican Rep. David Simpson, said that the legislation “has to do with dignity and travel, and prohibiting indecent, groping searches.”

Similar pieces of legislation have been proposed at both the state and federal levels. A measure currently before the New Hampshire state assembly would make the “touching or viewing with a technological device of a person’s breasts or genitals by a government security agent without probable cause a sexual assault.”

Another bill, authored by a member of the U.S. Congress, proposes limits on the TSA’s pat-down of small children. The bill authored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) was a reaction to the pat-down in April a protesting 6-year-old, a video of which went viral.

The TSA’s over-the-top practices came to the fore once again this week, when a photograph of an infant being searched by a TSA agent also went viral.

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Oh, the myriad embarrassing things which could be avoided with just a little profiling.

Bee on May 13, 2011 at 1:56 PM

Yeah, Bee, but it’s more than embarrassment. It’s assault. Somewhere there will be a tipping point at which the American people realize the wrong outweighs the right, and by a large margin. But we apparently haven’t reached it yet.

J.E. Dyer on May 13, 2011 at 2:05 PM

Well I wonder, will holder take TX to court over this? He loves to take states to court if they are doing something that bho and team doesn’t like.
L

letget on May 13, 2011 at 2:16 PM

Yeah, Bee, but it’s more than embarrassment. It’s assault. Somewhere there will be a tipping point at which the American people realize the wrong outweighs the right, and by a large margin. But we apparently haven’t reached it yet.

J.E. Dyer on May 13, 2011 at 2:05 PM

The tipping point of offending American sensibilities should have been reached with the establishment of the Great Society, if not sooner. We are watching a lawfully (though not morally) enacted reductio ad absurdum that has been in the works for many decades.

gryphon202 on May 13, 2011 at 3:01 PM

Well I wonder, will holder take TX to court over this? He loves to take states to court if they are doing something that bho and team doesn’t like.
L

letget on May 13, 2011 at 2:16 PM

Yeah. Cause you know airport security is properly under federal juridiction./

Thanks a lot, W.

gryphon202 on May 13, 2011 at 3:03 PM

J.E. Dyer on May 13, 2011 at 2:05 PM

No, I meant the language of the bill. I should have been clear about that. It’s ridiculous that our lawmakers need even need to craft such legislation to protect American citizens when the solution is pretty clear.

Bee on May 13, 2011 at 3:08 PM

gryphon, it wasn’t W who came up with “to professionalize you must Federalize.” Before the Copperheads allowed the country to defend itself, they had to have their bribe.

SDN on May 13, 2011 at 3:27 PM

gryphon, it wasn’t W who came up with “to professionalize you must Federalize.” Before the Copperheads allowed the country to defend itself, they had to have their bribe.

SDN on May 13, 2011 at 3:27 PM

It was W who signed it into law. Good enough for me to hold him responsible.

gryphon202 on May 13, 2011 at 4:59 PM

gryphon202 on May 13, 2011 at 3:01 PM

I had forgotten about the “Great Society” for a spell. I’ve still got a business card that says “Free Card”, underneath, “from the Great Society”. And below that, “Not good for anything, it’s just free”.

Thanks for reminding me.

More on task, the Republic of Texas has quite a few surprises coming out of the State Assembly session which is ongoing in Austin. The Demorats are beside themselves, anguishly speaking, due to the Elephant super-majority. Points of order, parliamentary hijacking via the same tools the Donks put in place to maintain discipline when they ran the show. Interesting times down here.

Robert17 on May 13, 2011 at 9:46 PM

Concealed Carry on Campus
Ultrasounds before abortions
No more assault by the TSA
“Loser pays” shutting down frivolous lawsuits

I think they even had time to designate a day in October as “Official Chicken Fried Steak Day”

If the Texas legislature keeps this up everyone will be moving here. Let’s just hope all of this gets thru & Governor hair-do signs them into law.

batterup on May 13, 2011 at 11:17 PM

Bee on May 13, 2011 at 3:08 PM

Got it, Bee — and I didn’t really think you were missing the big picture. The wording of your comment just made a convenient jumping-off spot.

J.E. Dyer on May 14, 2011 at 2:01 PM

Here is the “Official” Response from the TSA

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.

I will give them one thing, they have big brass …. An Unconstitutional Agency in its formation (federal government has not constitutional authority over air travel), that has a matter of stated policy violates at minimum 2 parts of the bill of rights if not more is citing the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause as a reason for them to ignore this.

But that is also the best part, Texas is not telling the TSA they cant do anything, They can still do the “Pat Downs”, Just as soon as they do the “Officer” will be arrested for assault… So it is not a direct ban on the “pat downs” and the TSA can do what ever they want, however the “Officer” still has to follow state assault laws and they are not protected by Federal Immunity ..

Awesome !!!!

the_ancient on May 15, 2011 at 3:13 AM

Concealed Carry on Campus
Ultrasounds before abortions
No more assault by the TSA
“Loser pays” shutting down frivolous lawsuits

…May I ask what the heck the 2nd one is in there for? Unless our tax dollars are being used to pay for said abortion I really don’t give a hoot because we have WAY more important issues to worry about. Things like not surrendering to the wars on terror or drugs, and keeping the USA from going bankrupt.

Uncle Sams Nephew on May 16, 2011 at 1:57 PM