A young Virginia man who says the TSA wrongfully detained him for writing part of the Fourth Amendment on his chest in magic marker will probably get his day in court, Wired reports.
Aaron Tobey claims in his lawsuit that the TSA at Richmond International Airport unlawfully detained and handcuffed him for 90 minutes after he disrobed and revealed the Constitutional protest against airport security measures.
TSA agents allegedly called the police, who charged him with a misdemeanor. His suit claims the TSA violated his civil liberties and seeks $250,000 in damages.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in Tobey's favor on Friday, finding he had presented enough evidence to move forward with his claim that the government violated his right to free speech.
In doing so, the appeals court denied the TSA's attempt to dismiss the suit, meaning the case will likely head to a jury.
In his opinion, Judge Roger Gregory ruled that the First Amendment protects "peaceful nondisruptive speech" that "cannot be suppressed solely because the government disagrees with it.”
Tobey says he refused to go through the advanced imaging technology x-ray machines, also known as nude-body scanners, and instead decided on a pat-down and took off his clothes.
Once authorities saw his creative protest, his lawsuit says, they "interrogated" him and demanded to know “about his affiliation with, or knowledge of, any terrorist organizations, if he had been asked to do what he did by any third party, and what his intentions and goals were.”
Two weeks after he was first detained, Henrico County prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charge against him, according to Wired.
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