Open hearing on constitutionality of air-travel ID requirement this Wed in

[BlueEyedSon]

SF

If you're in San Francisco on December 8, you can attend a court case where the constitutionality of America's creeping war on anonymity will be challenged.

My friend John Gilmore, co-founder of EFF and inventor of many key Sun Microsystems technologies, is suing the US federal government over the constitutionality of a secret law that requires Americans to show ID before boarding airplanes, a back-door to mandating Soviet-style internal passports for travel.

The TSA and airlines claim that the ID requirement for travel is a law, but the law isn't published anywhere. If it were published, it would be subject to Constitutional challenge; previous Supreme Court cases during the anti-Segregation fight established that the Feds have no right to condition citizens' ability to travel across state lines.

Now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing John's case, and the hearing is open to the public. I wish I could be there -- this is history being made, and John deserves all our support for having the guts to put his money and liberty on the line to fight for the Constitution.

Friends and supporters of John are welcome to attend this historic hearing, but are asked to please dress appropriately for court. John would like nothing more than to have the public gallery filled to the brim with fellow Americans who care as much as he does about the US Constitution.

What: Oral Arguments in Gilmore v. Gonzalez
When: December 8th 2005 at 9am
Where: 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Third Floor, Courtroom 3
95 Seventh Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

http://www.papersplease.org/gilmore/hearing.html

Found here:http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/04/open_hearing_on_cons.html

[tx_dem41]

1. I usually back the EFF on issues....

on this one, I don't think so. I'm guessing they lose on this one.

[ret5hd]

2. you don't back them because you believe they are wrong...

or because you believe they will lose?

[tx_dem41]

3. I believe they are wrong on this one.

There is no "right" to fly on a plane.

[ret5hd]

4. well, you're probably right on that point...

in the same way, we have no "right" to board a bus...
and no "right" to use the highway or other public road systems, either as a driver or passenger...
and no "right" to trespass on privately owned land...

so, while i guess we may have a "right" to cross state lines without "papers", i guess the only people that have a means to do so are those few that happen to own land that straddles state lines.

[tx_dem41]

5. No....we have the right to do most of the things you stated.

So you are misunderstanding me. But, air travel is conducted by private companies. They can reserve the right to refuse service (e.g. unruly passengers, etc.).

[BlueEyedSon]

6. Are the "private companies" the ones who are mandating the ID check?

[tx_dem41]

7. They perform it as well as TSA.

And they were doing it long before 9/11. Even if the EFF were successful in barring from TSA from doing it, the airlines are going to do it anyway.

[BlueEyedSon]

8. I wonder if Atta et al had ID....

[ret5hd]

9. don't you read!?!?!?

they found one of their passports sitting (in pristine condition, no less) on top of the rubble of the towers!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: