The federal Transportation and Security Administration may have thought it had the last word in its battle with the state of Texas over a controversial bill that would make airport pat-downs a criminal offense. The fight, however, is anything but over as the state Senate prepares take up the bill for the second time.
The bill, HB 1937, would make it a misdemeanor for TSA personnel to touch “the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person including through the clothing.” The penalties for violating the law would be a $4,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
The legislative body had been poised to vote on HB 1937 in May when a U.S. attorney writing on behalf of the TSA threatened to cancel flights out of the Lone Star State if the bill passed. The bullying worked, and the bill was withdrawn before a single up or down vote could be cast.
But Rep. David Simpson, a member of the Texas House, which had passed the legislation unanimously, was having none of it. Simpson urged supporters to email Governor Rick Perry and ask him to include the bill during the 30-day special session that began last week. Although Perry has yet to add the measure to the agenda, legislators are confident he will, especially now that his lieutenant governor, David Dewhurst, is supporting the measure.
The TSA for its part isn’t backing down, claiming it has the full weight of the Constitution behind it. The agency’s blog cites Article. VI. Clause 2, which says in essence that the federal government is the “supreme Law of the Land” and that states are powerless to challenge it.
But the Constitution cuts both ways, supporters of the bill argue. They refer the TSA to the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures, claiming that invasive pat-downs are in direct violation since they are conducted without a warrant or probable cause.
Texas is one out of eight states trying to limit TSA pat-downs. If the bill passes, a domino effect is likely to follow.
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