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RedditOn November 15, a federal judge handed nine airport screeners an unexpected victory in their legal battle against a law passed in the wake of September 11 that required citizenship for all airport screeners. But while the judge's action temporarily kept the law from affecting the nine plaintiffs, it did not force the government to reinstate more than 8,000 immigrant screeners who lost their jobs because of the requirement.
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Insecurity Cameras
William Pentland: The more sophisticated security technology becomes in our nation's cities, the more reason privacy activists have to be alarmed.
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Fear of Restrooms
Barbara Ehrenreich: Now that we know there's a vice squad deployed to find people looking to hook up for quickies in airport bathrooms, air travel has taken on a whole new dimension.
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Driving While Muslim
Spencer Ackerman: As the hunt for homegrown terrorists sympathetic to Hezbollah intensifies, the Muslims of Dearborn, Michigan are losing their trust in American justice.
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Groundhog Day
James K. Galbraith: From all official statements so far, the August 10 terror plot uncovered in Britain was the biggest thing since 9/11. But then again, perhaps it wasn't. It's not too early to ask the questions on which a final judgment must depend.
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The Insecurity State
Donald W. Shriver Jr.: Americans are now caught in a security paradox: We expect the government to protect us, but its responses make us feel even more insecure.
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Joe Strummer, Terrorist?
Antonino D'Ambrosio: What does it mean that a man was arrested on suspicion of terrorism for singing the lyrics of the Clash's classic "London Calling"?
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Fearmongering on Dubai
Democrats should see the panic over the DP World deal as an opportunity for a nervy rudder-turn and challenge the obsessive secrecy and toxic premises of Bush's national security policy.
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Legal Victory for Airport Screeners
Michael Flaherty: A federal judge hands nine workers an unexpected victory in their battle against a new law requiring citizenship for all airport screeners.
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The Great Airport Fire-Off
Michael Flaherty: Section 111 of the ATSA sets the absurd precedent that immigrants can join the military but not scan sneakers at airline security posts.
The Department of Justice issued a statement that defended the citizenship requirement and clarified the limits of Takasugi's ruling. "Congress took this approach after determining that airport screeners were on the front line in the war on terrorism. The injunction does not apply nationwide, but only to the plaintiffs in the case," said the statement. Throughout the case, federal attorneys argued that the citizenship requirement fell within Congress' immigration and foreign affairs powers.
Plaintiffs are considering the option to expand Gebin v. Mineta into a nationwide class-action suit, according to ACLU attorney Ben Wizner.
The chances of the case making it past an appellate court remain slim, says Alex Aleinikoff, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and former general council for the Immigration and Naturalization Service under the Clinton Administration. In matters dealing with immigration and national security, appellate courts have tended to favor Congress and the executive branch, making it likely that the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will be "quite deferential to Congress's view that the citizenship requirement is an important qualification," according to Aleinikoff.
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