In my suit against terahertz imaging by the NYPD, their motion to dismiss based primarily on standing is now fully briefed. In it’s final say on the matter, the NYPD argued the following:
Plaintiff Will Have Standing If, And When, The NYPD Implements The Scanners And Plaintiff Is Among The Scanned
In other words, the NYPD argues that the courts may not prevent the NYPD from violating the people — they must wait until they have already violated the people. Luckily for the people, that’s actually not the legal standard. In addition to stepping in once an actual injury has occurred, the courts may step in when an injury is “imminent.” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 561 (1992). Additionally, threatened injury is sometimes enough to cause actual injury (for example, a threat to the right to speak freely is often enough to convince a court that people are not speaking because of the threat, and therefore an actual injury exists). The court may or may not decide that my injury is imminent enough (and if he decides against, I can re-open the case as soon as the scanners hit the streets), but it certainly won’t be based upon the NYPD’s deranged interpretation of the cases and controversies clause.
Corbett v. City of New York II – Motion to Dismiss (.pdf)
Corbett v. City of New York II – Motion to Dismiss Opposition (.pdf)
Corbett v. City of New York II – Motion to Dismiss Reply (.pdf)
Professional Troublemaker ® 
Double-talking stonewall court.
All of your motions are continually rejected by the legal system, most of them on unclear grounds. Where do you find the heart to pursue cases like these when the legal system clearly doesn’t give damn?
Reblogged this on RubinoWorld.
Realistically, where is the common ground? People would complain about being frisked and this scanner stuff came up. One night, I arrested a woman. She had a fixed blade knife on her. There was no female officers around and in the stationhouse she was searched, by me. Found a straight razor in her bra. Metal knuckles and a garrot concealed in the lining of her motorcycle jacket. Think about it from the other side of the argument for a moment. I’m not really certain that I would mind a body scan. What’s the alternative, a hijacking/suicide mission, or simply don’t bother flying. Modern problems. They are not going away. Smugglers too often oppose this type of search.
After arrest, a frisk is obviously fair game. At the airport, some time of security may be appropriate. But on the streets, on random people who are not even suspected of a problem… that’s where the NYPD has crossed the line. Likewise, the TSA crossed a line by using a search that is more invasive than necessary. Metal detector + ETD test would be *more* secure than what we have now and would avoid the intrusion.
I don’t think that you have the full story. NYPD Stop & Frisk requires an Information Card to be filed that must have a reason for the stop and frisk. Generally, it will be greater in areas were narcotic sales or weapons sales or robberies are higher. If things degenerated to a point where just anyone is stopped and frisked, then it is a sad commentary. I believe and hope that I am right, that the conducted searches are reasonable and prudent. You sound like your concerns are related to traveling, the streets are a different world. No dreaming allowed because you could end up the victim of a crime and dead. Very serious business. I had a bicycle cop, eyeball me, and then wants to search me. No problem. What is your reason. Wouldn’t say. He found out who I was and questioned a knife sheath on my belt with a bit of the sides I cut away for better grip. He said it did not look like a knife and thought that it was a handgun ammunition magazine. It was my Buck folding pliers tool, that I carry much of the time and rely on it for millions of needs. I handed it to him and he smiled. Then he asked where I worked. I said, “right here”. About a half hour later inside, he walks in and smiles, shakes my hand. Nothing sinister. He was worried about going home to his wife and kids at the end of his tour.
I tried on several occasions to work for TSA but they always refused and said that I would not fit in. I was in the running for Criminal Investigator (Series 1811), and TSA Officer, and for TSA Director of Security, JFK, and also LaGuardia, plus mobility anywhere in America or on planet earth, during times of emergency. They did not want me. They do not want retired street cops. I don’t know what they fear? Personally, you do not sound like a person that would need to have any fear or concern about the frisks on the street. In airports, I do not have any of that experience, nor know what the TSA policies are, but it is true that, if something gets past them and a plane goes down with passengers, there will be many questions and fingers pointed at them. You are obviously a passenger, so think about it, because you are the winner, and not the loser, every time you are frisked and have a safe flight.
To date, NYPD has not crossed any line, and if they ever did, the cop doing the search would have sufficient due cause for the frisk. No college stuff here, only street survival from a cop’s point of view.
Best of Luck to you.
If you’ll look a little further back in my blog (try the NYPD tag), you’ll see that I was indeed a victim of a suspicionless stop-and-frisk by the NYPD. I was detained for 10 minutes for being a white guy in a black neighborhood, which they assumes means I’m buying or selling drugs. No UF-250 was filed, and the city denies it ever happened.
700,000 stop-and-frisks are conducted every year in NYC (and that’s just the ones the NYPD reports). Of those, only 1.25% find a weapon. To say that you expect these cops have due cause is based on your first-hand experience with good cops, rather than what we have today in New York. The street body scanners will make it all that much easier for a cop to search you at any time, and now without you even knowing.
First time on your blog. A white guy, in a black neighborhood… First indications are that you might probably be looking for hookers or drugs. Black people, in the black neighborhoods, complain that only blacks are stopped, and demand that White-Boys should be frisked. Concerns are from the people in those communities. I stopped a few but they had “girl friends” in the area, and it really did not matter, they got frisked. No UF-250, the cop either had other jobs being answered and caused the paperwork glitch or they simply felt that you were anything but, dangerous, and simply said, “forget it”. Where exactly were you, if you don’t mind me asking?
Crown Heights.
Ha, Ha, Ha!!!!!
Oh, my goodness! Well, it actually has many kids from DUMBO running around Crown Heights, and the general areas of the 78 Pct, 71 Pct, 77 Pct. Years ago it definitely meant whores or drugs. Today… So, so… Years ago, we had one guy that got stopped in East New York, and you have a few old time Italians left down there. He never pulled his shield out. He simply said like a gay, “I’m visiting my friend, Ramon”, and the two cops just looked at him and drove off!
I just looked at your photo, you do not look threatening. They figured that you were okay.
FYI: Understand that, people that use/sell drugs, support cop killers. The cops have a genuine concern with that issue. Obviously, you passed their inspection and were given a nod. Bet you a cup of coffee that, they forgot all about you about fifty feet down the street when they left.
I think you seem to be missing my point: A cop’s opinion that my race means I must be up to something is not a lawful reason to stop me. A cop’s opinion that a neighborhood is dangerous is not a lawful reason to stop me. And a cop “giving me the nod” and forgetting about me does not cancel an unlawful stop.
A cop may only stop someone when they have lawful reasonable suspicion that a crime is in progress. No amount of intuition, desire for street survival, or nodding can override that.
Re: buying drugs = supporting cop killers, all the more reason to legalize marijuana, eh? Save a cop, eliminate the most common drug dealers of all. PS – Cops do drugs too. 🙂
EPIC Appeals FOIA Decisions Concerning Body Scanner Information:
EPIC has filed appeals in two Freedom of Information Act cases seeking documents related to airport body scanners from the Department of Homeland Securityhttps://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2010cv1992-20)( and the Transportation Security Administration (https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2011cv0290-23). EPIC filed FOIA requests with the agencies seeking records related to radiation risks from body scanners and the threat detection software the machines use(http://epic.org/privacy/backscatter/Body_Scanner_Radiation_FOIA.pdf). The TSA is currently developing formal rules for the use of body scanners in response to a court order in one of EPIC’s previous cases.
http://epic.org/2013/04/epic-appeals-foia-decisions-co.html
(VIDEO) TSA Lawsuit Reveals NO Federal JURISDICTION USA Under Foreign Rule Jesse Ventura: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyEcLg9afDc&feature=player_embedded
The Federal Government stated they have “no jurisdiction” of the TSA. So, Jessie should have taken his case to the Hague?
So who is in control? According to Panetta’s own words it’s the UN and no longer Congress. You may still be able to find the Panetta video but it has been censored in a big way.
Just because we direct the largest chunk of money to the UN doesnt mean we are in control, it just means we pay to keep the lights on.
DHS is above the Constitution using the Patriot Act which supercedes it.
The Patriot Act was part of our latest chapter 13 reorganization. So was the ‘bailout’ of AIG which was shrouded in secret money transfers. The bankers and politicians who, working together to repeal Glass-Stegal Law, made it easy to sell out the people and nation towards privatization and foreign corporate domination.
Wikipedia.org: “Congress ultimately passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002 without the union-friendly measures, and President Bush signed the bill into law on November 25, 2002. It was the largest U.S. government reorganization in the 50 years since the United States Department of Defense was created.”
The previous bankruptcy reorganization of the US (1933) took us from creditor nation to something resembling a debtor nation. It replaced the redeemable for gold currency in your granfather’s wallet with a non redeemable currency, the ‘Federal Reserve Note’, and allocated your Social Security payments to a foreign entity. Congress spending it was just a smoke screen.
The passage of the NDAA clearly states the foreign powers (posing as the United States Government) can take an American Citizen’s Life without due process, no US court has any power to stop them (ie. No Jurisdiction).
Public blasts TSA’s Body Scanners:
Washington – Following a court mandate that the Transportation Security Administration review public opinion about its invasive airport body scanners, more than 2,000 comments have been posted.
And members of the public don’t like the invasive images security officers are reviewing.
The court mandate was in response to the case, Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Department of Homeland Security. TSA will continue to accept comments from the public until June 24th at http://www.regulations.gov(http://www.regulations.gov/#!home).
Comments have noted various problems with the scanners, including privacy violations, potential health risks, and the machines accuracy in regards to risk detection.
One commenter posting under the name Aaron stated his concerns over the health risks posed by the full body scanners.
“I will never use the full body scan because I refuse to expose myself to unnecessary X-rays. As a biologist, I know there is no such thing as a safe dose of X-rays,” Aaron commented.
Another commenter, Alex, wrote, “this is supposed to be ‘the land of the free, and the home of the brave.’ There is nothing free or brave about being subjected to naked body scans or invasive pat-downs.”
A poster named Sam commented, “It’s a violation of our 4th Amendment rights protecting American citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. It’s as simple as that.”
http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/public-blasts-tsas-body-scanners/
America’s 14 Most Pissed Off Comments on the TSA’s Airport Body Scanners:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/05/14-angriest-comments-public-input-airport-body-scanners