CEI Files Opening Brief Against TSA Body Scanner Regulation

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), The Rutherford Institute, and two CEI employees filed the opening brief today in their lawsuit challenging the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulation on the use of body scanners in airports.

The brief alleges the TSA failed to adequately consider that its use of unpopular and invasive body scanners for airport screening was leading some air travelers to drive instead of fly, increasing the risk of transportation deaths due to the far more risky nature of automobile travel.

“We are asking that the TSA confront the fact that its body scanners may increase travel risk by prompting people to drive rather than fly,” said CEI Fellow Marc Scribner, a petitioner in the lawsuit. “An agency established by Congress with the task of improving transportation safety should not be able to ignore this potential risk.”

CEI’s brief also argues that the TSA exaggerated the alleged speed and effectiveness of its body scanners in order to downplay the issue of public hostility to their use.

See more about CEI’s case here.