No-Fly Zones
Now that Hussein is out of power in Iraq, the Transportation Security Administration has established similar travel restrictions to those imposed in that country following the first Gulf War. The ACLU is bringing a suit to end the practice, claiming that insufficient safeguards exist to ensure passengers Constitutional rights. It’s an interesting problem. If airlines are simply complying with the TSA, a governmental body, then the case looks pretty much open-and-shut to me (unless they're using psychics, like they do in Florida). However, if this is a recommendation by the TSA that the airlines can comply with or not, then it appears more difficult. In the latter case, the airlines should have the right to refuse service to anyone they choose, and if there’s even the slightest possibility that the little old lady trying to board a flight to visit her grandchildren might be a suicide bomber, then she can just ride the bus or stay home. It’s the airline’s plane, and it cost them plenty to get it and run it. They can’t just have people blowing them up willy-nilly. In the former case, pre-screening would have to occur, with an appeals process through the courts, and well before the actual execution of travel plans. Instead of having to arrive at the airport three hours before your flight, you’d have to appear before a judge as soon as the docket was sufficiently clear to hear your plea. That should help the economy.