Former Governor, Jesse Ventura, sues TSA over pat-downs

July 25, 2011 at 1:45 pm | Posted in Aviation Law Current Event | Leave a comment

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Source: TwinCities.com

In federal court in St. Paul on Friday, a lawyer for the former governor argued that rules implemented by the Transportation Security Administration – which subject Ventura to pat-down body searches when he flies – violate his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable and unwarranted searches.

The TSA’s rules were “issued in secret, (were) never published (and) can be changed at any time, in secret,” attorney David Bradley Olsen told U.S. District Judge Susan Rogers Nelson.

The government, though, contends that the searches are legal and that they can be challenged only in federal appeals court, not in a district court, as Ventura has done.

The Justice Department wants the former governor’s case dismissed, and that motion was the subject of the hearing. After listening to arguments from both sides, Nelson said she would issue a ruling later. [Full story]