The TSA Not Only Ignores The Constitution But Court Orders
Ari Ofsevit blogs at TSANewsBlog.com about the TSA ignoring the court order requiring public input on scanners (per the Administrative Procedures Act). The input is supposed to come before implementation, but never mind that:

The court (DC circuit appeals court) basically told the TSA, "We're fine with the use of these scanners, as long as you go through the proper channels to justify their use (which you should have done before you installed them, but since not using them would be disruptive, we'll allow their use)." This decision was handed down on July 15. 2011. The TSA was asked to act promptly a year ago. And it's done nothing.

EPIC has filed several motions to compel the TSA to fulfill its duties under the APA. The first two motions, filed last year, were dismissed. But the most recent writ of mandamus (an order issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly) goes to lengths to point out that the TSA has not been prompt in addressing this concern. The Lawfare Blog post points out that if the TSA just bit the bullet and held the appropriate forum for public input, it would probably be successful. The definition of "prompt" is not defined, but a court recently ruled that a 20-month delay is certainly not prompt; and we're now creeping up on that.

We'll have to wait and see what happens with this case. Public hearings on this technology would certainly be interesting. Perhaps there's a reason that the TSA doesn't want the details of the program coming to light. I doubt it's a question of cost; I can't imagine that holding a public comment period and publishing the results costs much more than a single naked scanning machine (each of which goes for a cool $170,000). Maybe the TSA is just lazy--a word more likely to describe the agency than "prompt."

Jim Harper at the Cato Institute started a petition at Whitehouse.gov demanding that the TSA begin the process the court ordered it to start. So far, the petition has garnered more than 13,000 signatures; a level of 25,000 is supposed to trigger a response from the White House. While neither of these avenues is likely to result in a wholesale removal of the scanners, they at least might get the TSA to explain why it needs them (at some airports and not others). It's been three-plus years since the TSA should have opened this to public comment, and more than a year since it was ordered to do so by a court. That's longer than any security line.

Please sign the petition and pass it along to others and ask them to sign.