Airport search decisions and selectees' speech

[Robert Sheridan]

Apparently my sad attempt at a bit of deadpan humor was a bit too  
dead.  I'm so glad I didn't ask members of the list if they'd heard  
whether the screeners used a flashlight to determine whether the  
professor was hiding a pen somewhere.

Bob


On Apr 11, 2007, at 9:22 AM, Volokh, Eugene wrote:

> 	I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I quite grasp the suggestion -- is
> it that carrying a book will get you searched extra carefully, on the
> grounds that carrying a book is sign of thinking for oneself and
> therefore suspicious?  That carrying an antigovernment book will  
> get you
> searched extra carefully?  That carrying a book labeled "How to Wage
> Jihad" will get you searched extra carefully?
>
> 	Eugene
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Robert Sheridan [mailto:bobsheridan at earthlink.net]
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:45 AM
>> To: Volokh, Eugene
>> Cc: conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
>> Subject: Re: Airport search decisions and selectees' speech
>>
>> Forgive me, but I don't think our gummint is clever enough by
>> half to have line-clerks screen airline travelers for
>> political dissidence at the point of contact, the
>> take-off-your-shoes line, even if it wanted to, which I doubt it  
>> does.
>>
>> I do recall from the old days, however, a phenomenon known as
>> "Hippie Probable Cause."  This is where the "pigs" also known
>> as your city's finest, stopped VW buses bearing peace-signs
>> whose occupants stunk of burned green vegetable matter
>> strongly suspected of being Mj.  On tossing the vehicle you
>> would be surprised at how many of these folks were found in
>> actual possession of the dreaded Mj.  Searches based on
>> Hippie PC were disallowed by the California SC in around 1972 in P.
>> v. Kellett, I believe is the name of the case; it's been
>> awhile.  I wondered whether the good professor was wearing
>> some sign of
>> dissidence, like thinking for himself, such as by carrying a book.
>> That might have done it.
>>
>> rs
>> sfls
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Apr 11, 2007, at 8:16 AM, Volokh, Eugene wrote:
>>
>>> 	Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the evidence of possible
>>> political-speech-based decisionmaking in the Murphy case
>> consists of
>>> (1) the fact that Murphy was selected, on one leg of the
>> flight, for
>>> extra scrutiny coupled with the fact that he had publicly
>> criticized
>>> the Administration, and (2) the statement by someone at the
>> airport (I
>>> forget -- was it a TSA agent or an airline clerk) that people
>>> routinely get put on such selectee lists based on public
>> criticism of
>>> the Administration.  I take it that #1 isn't terribly persuasive on
>>> its own, since it could easily be coincidence; I take it, for
>>> instance, that many members of this list have criticized the
>>> Administration, including in
>>> public contexts, and yet they generally fly mostly unobstructed.
>>> So it
>>> comes down to #2.
>>>
>>> 	And as to #2, what is list members' sense of the
>> probability of these
>>> three scenarios?
>>>
>>> 	(A)  The Administration has a policy of placing Administration
>>> critics on some special select-occasionally lists, and it
>> *announces
>>> this policy to airport personnel*, even though there's no
>> reason that
>>> they need to know about it (since the names are presumably
>> added by a
>>> completely different set of people in a different place observing
>>> different things).
>>>
>>> 	(B)  The policy is kept secret, as likely unconstitutional and
>>> potentially highly embarrassing policies (if they exist)
>> are likely to
>>> be kept secret.  But this particular airport employee has
>> still heard
>>> about it from a reliable source, and is thus knowledgeable on the
>>> subject even though it's quite far outside his job description.
>>>
>>> 	(C)  The airport employee was repeating a rumor he'd
>> heard -- a rumor
>>> that is no more accurate than any other rumor anyone might start
>>> -- or toying with Prof. Murphy or making stuff up.
>>>
>>> 	Eugene
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
> _______________________________________________
> To post, send message to Conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see  
> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof
>
> Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed  
> as private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages  
> that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members  
> can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.