I unfortunately just received news that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear my appeal. My case against the body scanners was tossed by a U.S. District Court, and then appealed in and affirmed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, under a law that the TSA interprets to mean, “Anything we write down cannot be fought in a trial court” — you know, the kind of court with a jury, discovery, witnesses, etc. — and must instead be fought in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the fight is not over, it simply must be continued without that jury, and with discovery and witnesses allowed to me at the discretion of the 11th Circuit (instead of by right, as a reasonable reader of the Constitution might assume that we had). I will have my 11th Circuit filing completed within the next 30 days. If you’d like to donate to this expensive effort, click the Donate button at the top right of the page.

I’ve heard from thousands of you over the last 2 years now. Thank you so much for the support, and let’s continue this fight together!

–Jon

There are now three motions to dismiss both the federal and state defendants in my case against the TSA’s unlawful search and seizure of me at FLL airport last year.  They were filed between 1 and 3 months ago, with such absurd claims as, “We’re not law enforcement officers, but we were allowed to detain him” and “We’re allowed to read any documents he brought through the checkpoint on the off-chance that one of them will show he used a false ID.”

The judge has not yet ruled on any of these three motions, and there is no deadline for her to do so, however last week good news came as she ordered the parties to create a scheduling plan and submit other documentation that is required for the trial to proceed. It would seem unlikely for her to do such a thing if she were planning on tossing the case, and so I’m very much looking forward to reading her order denying the motions to dismiss. 🙂

[UPDATE: Thank you for the replies! I should be good now!]

In my lawsuit against the TSA, FLL’s airport owners, and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, all parties have been served except the Sheriff. I thought it was peculiar that I contacted about a dozen professional process servers in Broward asking for a quote to serve the BSO and only 3 actually responded. One of them tried to serve the papers, but was turned away because Broward thought the paperwork was incomplete. A defendant, of course, doesn’t get the liberty of turning away paperwork because they don’t think it’s in order, but the process server refused to leave the documents on their desk and walk away — because the BSO licenses process servers, and they were worried they would lose their license.

Luckily, any private citizen (other than a party to the action) over the age of 18 can also serve these papers. So, if any of you are in the area and are willing to print a short document and drop it off on the desk of the BSO’s law department, preferably along with a “YOU GOT SERVED!,” please send me an e-mail: jon [at] fourtentech [dot] com.

Thanks to those who responded so quickly! The final version of my opposition to their motion to dismiss is below.

Corbett v. TSA – Motion to Dismiss IV Opposition (.pdf)

After writing 24 pages on this one, I could use a few more eyes to help make sure I’m still making sense. 😉 No legal experience required — just let me know if you think the argument is compelling or could be improved (and how). The brief background is that the TSA has argued that it has the right to detain people and the right to read all of your documents when you go through the checkpoint, in addition to some jurisdictional arguments.

Corbett v. TSA – Motion to Dismiss IV Opposition – DRAFT (.pdf)
This is the main file to look at

Corbett v. TSA – Motion to Dismiss IV Opposition Declaration – DRAFT (.pdf)
Corbett v. TSA – Motion to Dismiss IV Opposition Exhibit A – DRAFT (.pdf)
These two files are referenced within the main file

Corbett v. TSA – Motion to Dismiss IV (.pdf)
Corbett v. TSA – Motion to Dismiss IV Declaration (.pdf)
These two files are the motion that I’m opposing

For any attorneys out there, replies on this blog will not be interpreted as legal advice.

Thanks for your help!

–Jon

Every week or so I get an e-mail or a comment asking about suing the TSA, either to change policy (get rid of the scanners and pat-downs) or because of personal incidents (TSA screeners assaulting them, physically or sexually, stolen goods, false charges, etc.). Many of the stories are heartbreaking and all have been wronged by the TSA. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned, but my first question is: Are you ready for the fight? Here’s what it takes, assuming you don’t have a civil rights organization representing you and paying your way:

First, there are filing fees and other hard costs: printing (sometimes courts require up to 40 copies of a document!), mailing, travel, paid research databases, etc. So far, this has totaled in the four-figures range.

But, more importantly, there are the time costs. While writing a brief that has now reached 18 pages today, I was curious how much I’ve had to write so far in order maintain these actions against the TSA. I went through my all my Word documents in my TSA lawsuit folders, and the totals are:

U.S. District Court: 189 pages
11th Circuit Court of Appeals: 121 Pages
U.S. Supreme Court: 47 pages
—
Total: 357 pages

My writer friend tells me that typical for her industry is that a page takes an hour. With the research required for legal documents, I’d double that, and that doesn’t even take into account the time it took to put to research, create, and edit the awesome videos of the nude body scanners being defeated, not to mention the $0.99 sewing kit required to take down the $1 billion scanner fleet! 😉

Taking this much time away from work is why I’m so grateful for the donations that many of you have sent, which allow me to continue to fight the TSA without ending up homeless. 🙂 It’s a strong statement about our legal system that seeking justice for something so basic as “don’t take nude pictures of me” takes so much, and I’m not even close to finished. It’s also something to keep in mind if you want to sue the TSA but don’t want to pay a lawyer to do it for you (and can you imagine how much a lawyer would have billed to write 357 pages?): if you want into the legal side, be ready to have sore wrists.

But, if you just want to fight TSA thuggery in general, there is lots to be done. People are blogging, people are making videos, people are “traditional protesting” (flyers, tables, bullhorns, soapbox, etc.), people are contacting their representatives, people are donating money, people are talking to their friends and fellow travelers, and people are standing up and saying “no” (sometimes phrased as “I opt out!”). Hitting the TSA from all angles is the way to obtain change, and ALL of these are equally important tools in the fight. If you’ve participated, thank you, and feel free to share the creative ways you’ve found to protest the TSA in the comments to inspire others.