Court Ordered First-Amendment School for officers at the Richmond International Airport

[Matariki]

http://www.popularresistance.org/airline-passengers-stripping-protest-lands-officers-in-first-amendment-school/

For failing to understand and respect the civil liberties of U.S. citizens, law enforcement officers at the Richmond International Airport will now be required to take a two-hour class on the First and Fourth amendments.

The new class is part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by a man who was unlawfully detained for removing his clothing in protest against the airport’s full-body scanners.

In 2010, 21-year-old Aaron Tobey, a student at the University of Cincinnati, stripped to his underwear in the screening area at Richmond International Airport, revealing a handwrittenmessage on his chest that said, “Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.”

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In his opinion, Judge Roger Gregory wrote: “Mr. Tobey engaged in a silent, peaceful protest using the text of our Constitution — he was well within the ambit of First Amendment protections. And while it is tempting to hold that First Amendment rights should acquiesce to national security in this instance, our Forefather Benjamin Franklin warned against such a temptation by opining that those ‘who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.’ We take heed of his warning and are therefore unwilling to relinquish our First Amendment protections — even in an airport.

read the rest here...

[hlthe2b]

1. If only we could have that judge preside on some of the more critical civil rights/NSA surveillance

cases.... I'm guessing, but still would bet that judge would not see "espionage" in leaks of non-damaging data as the adminstration wants to declare.

[Blue_Tires]

2. What the fuck is a "First-Amendment class" going to do?

The *solution* of course is to permanently end the TSA prod/grope/probe-fests