CEI Prevails: Court Orders TSA to Bare Its Body Scanner Rule

Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) won a favorable ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordering the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ensure the “expeditious issuance” of its final rule regarding airport body scanners. Today’s ruling brings an end to the lawlessness that has plagued the agency’s approach to body scanners for more than four years since the court ordered the TSA to conduct this rulemaking.

Marc Scribner, a petitioner in the case and a research fellow at CEI, said, “Today’s victory will rein in TSA’s illegal body scanner policy. We are pleased the court agreed with our petition that TSA has taken far too long to comply with the basic rulemaking process that all agencies must follow. We look forward to examining the final rule to see how the TSA considered the thousands of public comments on how, why, and where the TSA can use body scanners.”

CEI filed suit on July 15, 2015, against the TSA for violating the law by deploying body scanners before completing the required rulemaking process. CEI was joined as co-petitioners by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and The Rutherford Institute, as well as CEI employees Marc Scribner and Lawson Bader in their capacity as private individuals.

Read more about the TSA body scanner issue in the petitioners’ MSNBC op-ed here.

Read more about CEI’s case here.

Read today’s court ruling here.